JOHN DUNCAN FERGUSSON R.B.A. (SCOTTISH 1874-1961)
BOULEVARD EDGAR QUINET
Signed, inscribed and dated ‘Paris 1909’ verso, oil on board
36cm x 27cm (14in x 10.5in)
In 1907, Fergusson decided to move from Edinburgh to Paris, where he was to live until 1913. This was made possible thanks to an inheritance following his father’s death the year before and was encouraged by meeting the American artist, Anne Estelle Rice, in Paris-Plage in the summer. He declared ‘Paris is simply a place of freedom’ and rented a studio at 18 boulevard Edgar Quinet in Montparnasse, the celebrated artists’ quarter. His wife, Margaret Morris, explained that ‘it overlooked the cemetery, [was] very peaceful and …[had]… a rent at that time of £12 a year.’ (Margaret Morris, The Art of J. D. Fergusson, J. D. Fergusson Art Foundation, 2010, p. 55).Fergusson himself recalled:“My studio at 18 Bd. Edgar Quinet was comfortable, modern and healthy. My concierge most sympathetic. Life was as it should be and I was very happy. The Dôme, so to speak, round the corner; L’Avenue quite near; the ‘Concert Rouge’ not far away – I was very much interested in music; the Luxembourg Gardens to sketch in; Colarossi’s class if I wanted to work from the model. In short, everything a young painter could want.” (Quoted in Morris, op.cit., p.55)He captured the neighbourhood in a hand-drawn map that survives in the artist’s archive held by Culture Perth & Kinross (acc.no. 1994.1244.7) in which many of these places are noted (see figure illustration).Boulevard Edgar Quinet comes from of a series of vibrant Parisian street scenes which Fergusson began shortly after arriving in the French capital. His excitement about his new surroundings is clear, as he revelled in the depiction of the city’s architecture and citizens. His brushwork became bolder and his palette brighter in deftly captured scenes of daily life.Anchored between the shop blind on the left and the boundary provided by the tree on the right, in the present painting Fergusson presents us with a setting through which the viewer’s gaze is drawn, from empty foreground to a tree-centred bustle of activity and over roofs to a hazy sky. With a confident command of modernist technique, form is indicated by way of distinct brushstrokes, whilst highlights of bright colours, including red and turquoise, enliven the composition and suggest a response to the brighter light of France compared to that of Scotland. Further examples of contemporary Parisian street scenes can be found in the collections of Culture Perth & Kinross, Manchester Art Gallery and the Royal Academy of Music, London.