About this artwork
This is a portrait of the artist's wife Margaret Morris (1891-1980), an influential innovator in modern dance and an accomplished artist in her own right. She studied dance in Paris and by 1910 was established in London with her own dance school, becoming London’s youngest theatre manager two years later. Morris met Fergusson in Paris in 1913 and they moved to Glasgow in 1939. Together they collaborated on many dance projects and Morris helped to lay the foundations for modern dance practice. Fergusson's paintings often have erotic overtones - here the shapes of the fruit echo the forms of the breasts. He has used a reduced palette of colours and created harmony within the composition through the repeated use of arcs, on the head, still-life elements and arches in the background.
Updated before 2020
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artist:John Duncan Fergusson (1874 - 1961) Scottish
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title:In the Patio: Margaret Morris
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date created:1925
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:71.20 x 61.10 cm; Framed: 94.00 x 84.00 x 9.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by Mr and Mrs G.D. Robinson through Art Fund, 1988
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accession number:GMA 3352
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glossary:
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...