The works of one of the masters of modern Scottish art will be shown at an exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of his birth.
More than 20 paintings and sculptures by John Duncan Fergusson – a pioneering member of the Scottish Colourists – will be on display in Glasgow, the city he called home for his last two decades of life.
'A Scottish Colourist at 150: J.D. Fergusson' opens at the Lyon & Turnbull gallery in Bath Street on Monday (March 11) as part of a special touring exhibit.
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Lyon & Turnbull's Alice Strang, who co-curated the exhibit with James McNaught, said: "Fergusson was born at the height of the Victorian era and died as the decade known as the 'Swinging Sixties' was getting underway.
"More than any other British artist, he was involved in the very birth of modern Western art in pre-World War One Paris and his international career included three solo exhibitions in America.
"He spent long periods living in Paris and London and played an important role in the Scottish art world after World War Two from his base in Glasgow."
In her previous role as a senior curator at the National Galleries of Scotland, Ms Strang curated its acclaimed Fergusson retrospective in 2013-14 and edited the accompanying publication.
She said: "The works on display follow Fergusson’s emergence as an artist of sophistication in Edwardian Edinburgh, to his role in the development of modern art in Paris, to the inspiration he found in the Scottish Highlands and the joy of portraying the pupils of Morris's dance Summer Schools held in France from the 1920s to the 1950s.
"A selection of sculptures reveal Fergusson's lesser-known talents as the only sculptor amongst the Colourists, led by the celebrated Eástre (Hymn to the Sun) of 1924."
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All the works to be shown have been lent from private collections and by the Fleming Wyfold Art Foundation, owner of what is considered the finest collection of Scottish art, from the 17th Century to the present day, outside public institutions.
James Knox, director of The Fleming Collection, said: "The Fleming Collection is not short of brilliant paintings, but without doubt our Scottish Colourists are the most dazzling, as our recent hugely successful touring exhibition proves. It has now been seen by over 75,000 visitors across eight regional galleries in the UK.
"Our three Fergussons in the exhibition display his sensitivity to the zeitgeist, summoning up 1890s international swagger as well as 1920s geometric modernity, with all the technical assurance and originality of an artist who knows his worth.”
This landmark year in celebrating Fergusson’s legacy will also be marked by Culture Perth & Kinross, custodians of what is considered the largest and most important holding of his work.
The artist’s family had close links with Perthshire and the cultural body was presented with the collection by the J. D. Fergusson Art Foundation in 1991.
A display devoted to Fergusson and his partner, dance pioneer Margaret Morris, will be installed in a new space dedicated to their joint creative achievements in the redeveloped Perth Art Gallery, following the opening of the new Perth Museum on 30 March 2024.
Born in 1874 in Leith, Fergusson is one of the four artists – along with fellow Colourists F. C. B. Cadell, G. L. Hunter and S. J. Peploe – who are revered as the masters of modern Scottish art.
He died in 1961, aged 86, in Glasgow.
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