John Duncan Fergusson (1864-1961)

• Fergusson was born outside Edinburgh in March 1874, from a middle-class family • He spent two years at the School of Art • However, a formal artistic training did not appeal to him and he was frustrated by the conservative and old-fashioned teaching • Throughout his career he was highly anti-establishment • Responded by establishing his own studio and teaching himself to paint • He ended up studying in Paris at the Academies Colarossi in 1895 • Here he was exposed to Parisian Avant Garde café culture – where ideas of artists, writers, poets etc were exchanged in the vibrant city • This would have involved spending time and sharing ideas with artists such as Picasso and Matisse • He was able to visit exhibitions and was exposed to the work of the Impressionists • Paris had a huge impact on him, and he continued to return every summer for ten years • The Fauve exhibition at the Salon Automne in 1905 had a big impact on his work • By 1907 he moved to Paris permanently and exhibited his own work at the Salon des Indipendents and the Salon D’Automne • During this time his work evolved, with bold and vibrant colours becoming key • In 1910 his work underwent a shift again where he produced a large number of female nude paintings • Colour, line and form became hugely significant in his work and he showed clear influences by Matisse • After 1912 he mostly focused on landscape painting • His work shows that he was influenced by Cézanne • While being inspired by others he used what he saw to create his own style and he focused on using his art to find his own voice • Despite being best known for his depictions of the female form he was also very well known for his landscape paintings • His wife Margaret Morris also had an important impact on his work o The two had a very special, long lasting relationship • Morris was an extraordinary woman who set up a dance school when she was 19 years old • She went on to take this dance school to Paris • The ethos of her life and work was shared by Fergusson, where they were extremely passionate about outside life and the sunshine and the sea • Fergusson often painted with lines and shapes that had a rhythmic quality o This adds an emotional dimension to his work • This rhythmic quality was inspired by dance and movement illustrating the influence of his wife Morris • Fergusson was fascinated with dance and often watched ballet, studying lines and shapes of the figures

Fergusson life video: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/jd-fergusson

John Duncan Fergusson, The Red Shawl (1908)

Source: Art UK https://artuk.org/discover/artists/fergusson-john-duncan-18741961

(b Leith [now a district of Edinburgh], 9 Mar. 1874; d Glasgow, 30 Jan. 1961). Scottish painter (mainly of landscapes and figure subjects) and occasional sculptor, the best known of the Scottish Colourists. From about 1895 he made regular visits to Paris and he lived there 1907–14. His early work was Whistlerian and he then came under the influence of Manet, but by 1907 he had adopted the bold palette of Fauvism and became the most uncompromising adherent to the style among British artists.

Source: Oxford Index https://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100448887

QUICK REFERENCE ‘Scottish Colourists’; A term first used in 1948 to describe the work of four Scottish painters, F. C. B. Cadell, Leslie Hunter, S. J. People, and J. D. Fergusson, who spent time in France in the early 20th century and were strongly influenced by the freedom of handling and bold use of colour found in French painting from Manet to Fauvism.

Source: Art UK

Source: Washington and Lee University

A Belle Époque: France and the Rise of Modernism

June 25-30, 2017

Between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I, 1871- 1914, much of Europe enjoyed a period of peace, prosperity, optimism, rapid developments in science and technology, and relative political stability. It was "the beautiful era," a golden age, a time best characterized by the expression joie de vivre (from the title of a book by Émile Zola). With this prosperity and the ascension of the Third Republic in France, La Belle Époque also sponsored a remarkable renaissance in the visual arts. Impressionism laid the groundwork in the 1870s and 1880s in works by Monet, Renoir, and Sisley. By the 1890s, such Postimpressionist masters as Cézanne, Matisse, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec had found their patrons. These artists were the vanguard of modernism in painting, a new freedom within the medium that inspired similar experimentation in all of the arts.

Source: National Galleries of Scotland (Extracts) https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/jd-fergusson

John Duncan Fergusson was the most internationally recognised artist of the Scottish Colourists. Spending most of his life split between Paris and London, he was highly influenced by the French modern movements of the early twentieth century.

Fergusson was born in Leith, but took up his training in Paris at the Academie Julian and Academie Colarossi towards the end of the nineteenth century. An interest in travel introduced him to new artists and styles which affected his work; in particular he became attracted to the work of Diego Velasquez whose work he discovered in Spain. In 1902 Fergusson made his way back to Edinburgh, where he held his first studio. During this time he was regularly seen painting en plein air in Princes Street Gardens.

Sometime in 1900 Fergusson became friends with S J Peploe, and the two regularly spent summers painting in Paris together. They both shared similar influences, such as Dutch portraiture and the works of Eduard Manet. Primarily focused on still life and portraiture, but being surrounded the bustling scenes of Paris, he began to focus on women’s millenary, social café scenes and portraits of lovers and friends.

In 1907 he relocated to Paris permanently, where he quickly became influenced by the fauvist movement, which altered the style of his works greatly. He gained a deeper appreciation for the female form, and began using bolder and brighter colours. He thrived in the artistic setting of Paris, rubbing shoulders with great artists such as Pablo Picasso and Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac. In 1908 Fergusson finished his first sculpture, the only Scottish colourist to do so.

Fergusson’s life and work was coloured by the many women around him, and his works often reflect their unique styles.

While still living in Leith, in the first few years of the twentieth century, Fergusson’s partner of the time, Jean Maconochie modelled for him. Her independence and style captivated Fergusson who began painting strong female characters wearing ornate millenary creations. In 1901 Fergusson first exhibited in London at the Royal Academy and from there he began spending more time between London and Paris. His fascination with hats and independent female characters continued, although the women in his life changed.

Source: National Galleries of Scotland

A group of Scottish painters comprising S.J. Peploe, F.C.B. Cadell, Leslie Hunter and J.D. Fergusson who were active in the early twentieth century. They all spent time in France and were influenced by French artists’ bold use of colour and free brushwork.

Fergusson, who is often considered the leader of the group, first visited Paris in the 1890s and his experience of the avant-garde stayed with him. He later wrote:

“Something new had started and I was very much intrigued. But there was no language for it that made sense in Edinburgh and London – an expression like the ‘logic of line’ meant something that it couldn’t mean in Edinburgh.”

... & ......

NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND website https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/jd-fergusson

In 1907 he relocated to Paris permanently, where he quickly became influenced by the fauvist movement, which altered the style of his works greatly. He gained a deeper appreciation for the female form, and began using bolder and brighter colours. He thrived in the artistic setting of Paris, rubbing shoulders with great artists such as Pablo Picasso and ·Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac. In 1908 Fergusson finished his first sculpture, the only Scottish colourist to do so.

J.D Fergusson, In the Patio: MargaretMorris Fergusson, 1925 He began to sculpt and draw the female form in motion. He sketched for the avant-garde, Ballet Russes in the height of its career. Along with fellow Anglo-American artists, including his partner of the time Anne Estelle Rice, he was a part of the group known as the Rhythmists. The rhythmist movement would affect Fergusson's work for the rest of his life, and dance would be a reoccurring theme. In 1913 he met his lifelong partner and often business partner, Margaret Morris. An insightful and important modern dancer, her students were a source of inspiration for Fergusson, providing the perfect models for many of his paintings. In 1913 craving colour, he travelled to the South of France and invited Morris to spend time with him there. Fergusson's works grew more bold, lively, and jovial while there, but when World War One broke out he moved back to London. Fergusson remained in London with Morris, helping with the Margaret Morris Dance Club, working in his studio, and exhibiting as far as the United States. He then returned to Paris in the 1930's before eventually settling back in Scotland. Fergusson and Morris would, however, continue to travel to the South of France for the rest of their lives, embracing the scenes of sunshine and warmth into their works. They moved to the artistic city of Glasgow in 1939, where Fergusson founded the New Scottish Group. He continued to paint with bright colours, and decided to neglect the colour black all-together in his works.

The Red Shawl, Fergusson, 1908, oil on canvas (dimensions: 200cm x 84cm)

• The Red Shawl is a portrait of the American writer and critic Elizabeth Dryden. • The painting was exhibited in the Paris Salon d’Automne in 1909 • Fergusson was well known for his portraits of women • After Fergusson’s death in 1961 his wife, Margaret Morris, gave fourteen of his paintings, including the Red Shawl, to the University of Stirling

The Scottish Colourists

Background: • J D Fergusson was a member of a group known as the ‘Scottish Colourists’ • The group never had a manifesto and they all had separate, diverging aims and techniques • It was the historian T.J. Honeyman who linked together three of the artists in 1950, in his book the ‘Three Scottish Colourists’, 1950 o In 1980 this group expanded to all four of the artists • Throughout the artists life time they only exhibited together on 3 occasions • The group included the four painters – Samuel John Peploe, F.C.B. Cadell, G.L. Hunter and J.D. Fergusson • Fergusson is often thought of as the leader of the group • However, they did all share some common ground, for example, they were all from middle class, Scottish families • Peploe and Fergusson both studied at the Trustees Academy, where they received formal artistic training in Edinburgh • Cadell was taught at the Royal Scottish Academy Life School • However, they rejected this formal art training and were frustrated at the traditional conservatism • The art training was prescriptive and did not allow them space for their own ideas and their own techniques • The artists were influenced by the impressionists, Manet, Cezanne, Matisse and the Fauves o Cadell was largely inspired by Manet o Peploe was inspired by Cezanne and Japonisme o Fergusson was mostly inspired by the Fauves and their bold, vibrant colours • At the time, the dominant style in Scotland was the Glasgow School o The Scottish colourist were radical and innovative within the Scottish art scene • Paris was a hub for artistic expression, leading avant-garde art • The artists also fused elements of Scottish heritage and the Glasgow School with Parisian avant-garde art making them extremely unique Whistler, Nocturne: The Falling Rocket, 1875 Fergusson, Dieppe, 14 July, 1905 Fergusson, Les Eus, 1910 Mattisse, Dance, 1909-10 Fergusson, Christmas Time in the South of France, 1922 Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-04 Margaret Morris, Summer School, 1934