John Duncan Fergusson

Eástre (Hymn to the Sun)

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About this artwork

Although best known as a painter, Fergusson also made several sculptures. The title of this bust refers to Eástre 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.

Updated before 2020

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John Duncan Fergusson

John Duncan Fergusson