Red Braces, c.1890 (oil on board)

This self portrait is one of Fergusson's first studies in oil and marks his transition from the use of watercolour alone during his schooldays. After settling in Paris in 1907 the theme took on renewed significance and he sketched his own features regularly in addition to painting more ambitious self portraits in oil. Disillusioned by the restrictions of the teaching system at the Trustees' Academy, Edinburgh, Fergusson chose to become self-taught. His first studio was in Picardy Place at the top of Leith Walk. It was an attic room with a large window overlooking the Firth of Forth. On his death in 1961 Fergusson left the largest collection of his works in existence to his partner, Margaret Morris (1891-1980). In 1963 she established the JD Fergusson Art Foundation, who subsequently gifted the entire collection, archive and copyright to Perth and Kinross District Council in November 1991.