J D Fergusson (1874-1961)
Rhythm (Oil on canvas, 1911)
The J D Fergusson Memorial Collection was presented to the University by Margaret Morris, the artist’s lifelong partner, and the J D Fergusson Art Foundation in 1968.
The collection of fourteen of Fergusson’s paintings was chosen to represent all periods of his life from the 1890s to the 1940s. It contains some of his finest work and includes this seminal painting Rhythm (1911). This is perhaps Fergusson’s first modernist piece, the word ‘rhythm’ becoming a watchword for all that was fresh and liberating for the artist and his avant garde group of friends at this time. After a visit to Fergusson’s studio in Paris, the painting’s title was borrowed by John Middleton Murry when launching a new literary periodical, and a graphic representation of the painting was used on the cover.
This work continues in significance and popularity and the Art Collection has been pleased to make it available to an increasingly wide public, loaning it out for many exhibitions around the UK and also recently in France. For further information about J D Fergusson at Stirling http://www.stir.ac.uk/artcol/history-of-the-art-collection/fergusson-stirling/
Recent Comments