? The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council
Eástre (Hymn to the Sun)
1924 (cast 1971)
On Display PORTRAIT GALLERY
- Scottish Art
Although best known as a painter, Fergusson also made several sculptures. The title of this bust refers to Eastre the Saxon goddess of spring, and it is believed to be a portrait of the artist?s wife Margaret Morris. As a dancer and leader of a dance school, Morris was involved in a performance called `Hymn to the Sun.? For Fergusson, she represented the sophisticated modern woman who was simultaneously in touch with primeval forces through the rhythms of dance. The hard, highly-polished surface of the sculpture evokes themes of modernity and the machine age, and gives the bust a radiant `other worldly? quality. It shows Fergusson?s awareness of contemporary developments in the avant-garde, particularly of the work of the sculptor Constantin Brancusi.
