Lot 65AR
John Duncan Fergusson RBA(British, 1874-1961)On Juan Plage 50.5 x 46 cm. (19 7/8 x 18 1/8 in.)
25 September 2014, 14:00 BST
EdinburghSold for £134,500 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Scottish Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Client Services (UK)
Shipping (UK)
John Duncan Fergusson RBA (British, 1874-1961)
On Juan Plage
signed 'J.D. Fergusson' (verso); titled 'On Juan Plage' to label (verso)
oil on canvas
50.5 x 46 cm. (19 7/8 x 18 1/8 in.)
signed 'J.D. Fergusson' (verso); titled 'On Juan Plage' to label (verso)
oil on canvas
50.5 x 46 cm. (19 7/8 x 18 1/8 in.)
Footnotes
Provenance
With Alexander Reid and Lefevre by 1927
Royan Middleton, Aberdeen
Sale; Christie's Glasgow, 8 December 1988, lot 360
With Richard Green, London
Sale; Sotheby's Edinburgh, 26 April 2007, lot 100
With the Fine Art Society, London
Private Collection
Exhibited
London, New Chenil Gallery, 1927, cat.no.2
British Artists Exhibition, 1928, cat.no.22
London, Barbizon House, 1932, cat.no.30
Edinburgh and touring, Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Committee, J.D. Fergusson Memorial Exhibition, 1961, cat.no.94
Aberdeen, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Paintings from North East Homes
The Fergussons spent the summer of 1923 at Chateau des Enfants in Juan-les-Pins, home of their friend George Davison. This reintroduction to the South of France inspired Fergusson's work and he embarked on a series of female nudes at one with the dazzling coastal landscape, a major theme which encapsulates the joie de vivre of the period. Many of these featured in his exhibitions in Paris and New York 1924-28.
The context was ideal with models readily to hand from Meg's dance classes, and Davison's private beach at their disposal. Fergusson sketched en plein air and worked up his compositions during long studio sessions, while also contributing to the Summer School curriculum. Composer Eugene Goosens was present and recalled:
'...the students adored Fergus for his patience and efficiency and his faculty for linking up in his lectures the twin plasticities of paint and body movement. The rhythmic improvisations of the dance - in which Meg and her pupils excelled - he translated into terms of colour and brushstrokes so that...the two arts were synonymous in theory and practice.' (Kirsten Simister, Living Paint, J.D. Fergusson 1874-1961, Edinburgh and London, 2001, p.82).