About this artwork
Dieppe, a beach resort on the Normandy coast, was popular with artists including Edgar Degas, James McNeill Whistler and Walter Sickert. Here, a smartly dressed crowd enjoys the town’s national Bastille Day celebrations. Left of centre, dressed in grey, is Fergusson’s friend, Scottish artist Samuel Peploe. Inspired by Whistler’s Nocturne paintings, Fergusson uses blue tones to suggest the inky summer moonlight. Against this backdrop, the spray of multicoloured fireworks appear even more luminous.
Updated before 2020
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artist:John Duncan Fergusson (1874 - 1961) Scottish
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title:Dieppe, 14 July 1905: Night
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date created:1905
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:76.80 x 76.80 cm; Framed: 109.80 x 109.80 x 10.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1978
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accession number:GMA 1713
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
John Duncan Fergusson
John Duncan Fergusson
'Scottish Colourist' John Duncan Fergusson was one of the most influential Scottish painters of the 20th century. Mostly self-taught, he moved to Paris in 1907, where he became a member of the city art circles to which artists such as Matisse and Picasso also belonged. The outbreak of the First...