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Description: | The J.D. Fergusson Memorial Collection was presented to the University by Margaret Morris Fergusson, the widow of the artist, and the J.D. Fergusson Art Foundation on Thursday 26th September 1968. This was the first and only bequest of a group of his work to be made by the Foundation before the setting up of the Fergusson Gallery in Perth.
In the late sixties the Foundation and Margaret Morris were looking for somewhere safe to house the collection and universities were a popular choice for those seeking a secure home for art at that time. Universities encouraged innovation and attracted new money whereas other parts of the museum and gallery world at that time were anything but well funded and secure. Fergusson had also been very attached to Perthshire and had expressed a wish that a gallery could be sited there so the new University at Stirling with its energetic young Principal, Tom Cottrell, and a location not so distant from the county, seemed a natural choice.
As the University was unable to take on the entire collection, fourteen of his paintings were chosen to represent all periods of his life from his very early 'Bazaar in Tangiers', c.1897 to 'A Bridge on the Kelvin', painted on his return to Glasgow in 1942. The collection features some of his finest work, including the seminal painting 'Rhythm', 1911 as well as a self portrait of the artist.
When these works first arrived, into a new university with very modern buildings, they looked somewhat out of place. Over time, however, they have come to be very much part of the building where they are displayed and, as the building has aged, the contrast has become less stark. | Subjects: | Fine Art | Source: | University of Stirling | Address: | University of Stirling
Stirling,
FK9 4LA | Identifier: | STIAC-CLD.6.1 | Language: | en-GB | Relation: | STIMR-CLD.6 |
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