Philosophy

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Scotland Office, Dover House, Whitehall

John Duncan (J. D.) Fergusson is regarded as an important and influential artist in Britain in the twentieth century. One of a group of artists known as the Scottish Colourists, along with S. J. Peploe, F. C. B. Cadell and Leslie Hunter, he was one of the few British artists to witness and become involved in the great changes in painting and sculpture which originated in Paris in the first twenty years of the century. Fergusson was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, and briefly studied art at the Trustees Academy after giving up a career in medicine. Frustrated with the quality and style of the teaching there, he decided to teach himself, painting from life in the open air. From the mid 1890s he looked towards France for inspiration, making regular visits to Paris from 1895, eventually settling there in 1907. He became closely associated with the Fauve painters, becoming a Sociétaire of the Salon d’Automne, where the most avant-garde painters and sculptors showed their work. On the outbreak of war in 1914, Fergusson returned to Britain, settling in London with his long-time partner, the acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Margaret Morris. They then moved to Paris before returning to Britain and settling in Glasgow just before the outbreak of the Second World War. In the 1940s, Fergusson established the New Art Club, with Morris, to encourage Glasgow’s young artists and the New Scottish Group, which held regular exhibitions between 1943 and 1956. Fergusson continued to give young artists opportunities to pursue careers in the arts, encouraging them to avoid the establishment and challenge the status quo, until his death in 1961.

Places

Subjects

bird, woman, goddess, philosophy

Materials & Techniques

brass, brass sculpture

Artist

John Duncan Fergusson (1874 - 1961)

Title

Philosophy

Date

1924

Medium

Brass sculpture

Dimensions

height: 27.50 cm, width: 24.00 cm, depth: 12.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Leicester Galleries, September 1964

Provenance

Collection of Mrs J. D. Fergusson; from whom purchased by Leicester Galleries, London; from whom purchased by Ministry of Works in September 1964, as 'Eastre: Hymn to the Sun'

GAC number

6676