Seascape - Lady with Parasol (oil on panel)

For practical reasons, the habit of working outdoors recording different light and weather conditions, encouraged Fergusson to adopt a small scale and free, spontaneous approach. These early works convey an enjoyment of the manipulation of the creamy texture of the paint best suited to this. The use of a fresher, lighter palette indicates Fergusson's growing appreciation of the work of the French Impressionists whose paintings both he and Peploe saw at first hand in Paris. The scene has been painted in sketchily and freely to convey an 'impression' of the view rather than a photographic likeness. 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.