J. D. Fergusson
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John Duncan Fergusson (9 March 1874 – 30 January 1961) was a Scottish artist and sculptor, regarded as one of the major artists of the Scottish Colourists school of painting.


Early life

Fergusson was born in Leith, Edinburgh, the first of four children. Although he briefly trained as a naval surgeon, Fergusson soon realised that his vocation was painting and he enrolled at the
Trustees Academy Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
, an Edinburgh-based art school. He rapidly became disenchanted with the rigid teaching style, however, and elected to teach himself to paint. To this end, he began to travel to Morocco, Spain and France, where he became acquainted with other artists of the day. Amongst them was Samuel Peploe, another of the group of artists who would later become identified as the Scottish Colourists.


Painting career


Paris

In 1898, Fergusson took his first trip to Paris to study at the Louvre. He was highly influenced by the
impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
paintings at the Salle Caillebotte and these were an important influence on his developing style. Later he would also be influenced by
Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...
and the fauvist principles of using colour would become a strong feature of his art. Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac wrote in his foreword to Fergusson's memorial exhibition of 1961: "His art is a deep and pure expression of his immense love of life. Endowed with a rare plastic feeling, almost sculptural in its quality. He joined with it an exceptional sense of colour, outspoken, ringing colours, rich and splendid in their very substance." Fergusson became part of the enormous growth in artistic talent that Paris was home to at the beginning of the twentieth century. There he mingled with artists like
Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
and
Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
in the café society for which the city was renowned. In addition, he and his friend Samuel Peploe regularly painted together at Paris Plage (Le Touquet) and other places along the coast between 1904–9. It was at this period too that he commenced his relationship with the American illustrator
Anne Estelle Rice Anne Estelle Rice (1877–1959) was an American artist who was one of the chief illustrators for the British periodical ''Rhythm'', edited by John Middleton Murry and Michael Sadleir from 1911 to 1913. She established a close relationship with Ka ...
(1879–1959), whom he encouraged to take up painting. She had been sent to Paris to provide drawings for articles on theatre, ballet, opera and race meetings published in the ''North American'' magazine and was to figure in many of Fergusson's canvases. He had his first one-man-show in the Baillie Gallery in London, immediately before going to Paris. He did have his second show until 1923.


Post WWI career

By the outbreak of World War I, Fergusson was considered to be at the forefront of modern British painting. During the war years, however, he achieved little artistically and it was only towards the end of the war that he regained the momentum in his work. In the 1920s Fergusson was settled in a studio in London. His first solo exhibition was organised by Alexander Reid in September 1923 at La Societe des Beaux Artes in Glasgow, reshown at Aitken & Dott's Gallery in Edinburgh (also through Reid) in October 1923. Reid also organised a four man exhibition including Fergusson at the Galerie Barbazanges in Paris in February 1924. In 1928 he and his partner, the dancer Margaret Morris, moved to Paris, where they lived until the spectre of war once again loomed over Europe, prompting the couple to move to Glasgow in 1939 where they were to remain for the rest of their lives. A member of
Glasgow Art Club Glasgow Art Club is a club for artists and lay members with an interest in the arts, that has become over the generations "a meeting place for artists, business leaders and academics".New Scottish Group The New Scottish Group was a loose collection of artists based in Glasgow, who exhibited from 1942 to 1956. It was formed around John Duncan Fergusson after his return to Glasgow in 1939. It had its origins in the New Art Club formed in 1940, an ...
of painters of which he was the first president. In 1943 he published his book on "Modern Scottish Painting". On his death, his widow, Margaret Morris, presented fourteen of his paintings to the University of Stirling when it was founded in 1968. His work remains popular, and in 1992 a permanent gallery, The Fergusson Gallery, was founded in Perth to house it. File:JD Fergusson, People and Sails.jpg, ''People and Sails at Royan'', 1910


References


Further reading

* Miller, J. Harrison (1962), ''John Duncan Fergusson: Independent Extraordinaire'', in Gordon, Giles and Scott-Moncrieff, Michael (eds.), ''New Saltire'' 3: Spring 1962, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 6 – 10


External links

*
Fergusson Gallery, PerthAn illustrated survey of Fergusson’s paintings''Exhibition of paintings and sculpture''
an exhibition catalog from 1928, available from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries.
'Stirling University'
Fergusson at Stirling University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fergusson, John Duncan Modern painters 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters 20th-century Scottish painters 1874 births 1961 deaths People from Leith Scottish Colourists Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Académie Colarossi alumni Artists from Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish male artists 20th-century Scottish male artists