Fruit in Bowl

A cacophony of effervescent, rich saturated tones and energetic brushstrokes defines Fergusson’s dynamic Fruit in Bowl. Painted circa 1912, while living in Paris, inscribed with his studio address ‘83 Rue Notre-Des-Champs Paris’ on the reverse, the present work represents Fergusson’s finest achievements in colour, light and form, which he developed during his formative years in the French Capital. He settled there in 1907, shortly after meeting fellow artist Anne Estelle Rice at Paris-Plage, and soon made it his home, immersing himself in the vibrant culture of the city, drawn to its progressive avant-garde and modernist way of life. Mixing with the creative milieu in Parisian cafés, he enjoyed the opportunity for unparalleled levels of creativity, exchange and debate amongst the writers, poets, dancers and artists he encountered.

Elizabeth Cumming explains, ‘France had become Fergusson’s second, perhaps his true, home. He was attracted by its culture, its artists and the sheer openness of its thinking, its debating of new ideas’ (E. Cumming, ‘La Vie de Bohème: Fergusson in France’ in exhibition catalogue, J.D. Fergusson, Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, 2013, p. 53). Fergusson excitedly wrote, ‘Paris is simply a place of freedom. Geographically central, it has always been a centre of light, learning and research. It will be very difficult for anyone to show that it is not still the home of freedom for ideas; a place where people like to hear ideas presented and discussed; where an artist of any sort is just a human being like a doctor or a plumber; and not a freak or madman’ (J.D. Fergusson, quoted in K. Simister, Living Paint: J.D. Fergusson 1874-1961, Edinburgh and London, 2001, p. 31).

Fergusson immersed himself in the social and artistic life of the French Capital and came into contact with many of the great artists of the day, such as Auguste Chabaud, André Derain, Albert Marquet, Jean Metzinger and Pablo Picasso. The painters who had the greatest impact on him and his early artistic practice were Henri Matisse and the group of Fauve artists, whose work had caused a sensation when they first exhibited at the 1905 Salon d’Automne. Their dazzling and daring use of colour, their ‘unrefined’ painting style and their technique of flattening and outlining of forms, spoke to Fergusson's desire for freedom and autonomy in his work.

This influence can be seen in Fruit in Bowl, in his experimental and unnaturalistic use of colour, selecting a myriad of bright greens, pinks, blues and yellows to depict his fruit, which speak more of his interest in colour combinations rather than realistic rendering. It too can be seen in the heavy coloured outlines which encases the fruit, the white vase in which they sit, the flowers and the pink box to the right of the composition, a sensationalist object that appears in many of his works of the period, in which he used to keep his condoms. Kirsten Simister explains, ‘Consistent of Fergusson’s Fauvist style are his use of dark red and blue to outline his subject matter, the introduction of selected areas of bright colour, an emphasis on flat, strong pattern to enhance mood and an apparently casual placing of individual brushstrokes’ (K. Simister, Living Paint: J.D. Fergusson 1874-1961, Edinburgh and London, 2001, p. 38). Although Simister states that Fergusson avoided the most extreme elements associated with the Fauvist style, in particular their tendency to apply pigment sparsely, and often leave areas of the primed canvas exposed, with the artist instead choosing a thicker and more fluid approach to painting, as seen here.

The vibrancy of tone is particularly key in Fruit in Bowl. The art critic Frank Rutter gives an interesting insight into Fergusson’s working environment, which accounts for his brilliance of colour. He recalled, ‘To keep his palette pure and bright he lived in a white studio, all white walls and white furniture. Here, as he explained, not only every note of colour in his sitter [or still life] had its full value, but he knew if his painting, when finished, looked clean and true against his own white walls, it would like right anywhere else’ (F. Rutter, quoted in A. Strang, ‘‘Trying for truth, for reality; through light’: A Life of J.D. Fergusson’ in exhibition catalogue, J.D. Fergusson, Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, 2013, p. 17).