Page 62 - Studio Internatinal - October 1974

REVIEW 6
rhythms all the time'. especially in his drawings. The this early date however, it is noticeable
Hughes-Stanton and Lawrence proliferation of coloured drawings of UK reviews that his handling of paint is already too
obviously had a lot of understanding, 1934-35 were an obvious reaction to J, D. Fergusson at the Fine Art Society, forceful to satisfactorily suggest the
there is a suggestion of the celtic the mass of black and white engraving London, 10 September-4 October, subtler side of changing light effects.
twilight about both, and just before his he'd produced in the previous few the Art Gallery and Museum, His natural predisposition towards a
death Lawrence suggested that Hughes- years. To the question of why he had Kelvingrove, Glasgow, 12 October-3 strong design imposed over the whole
Stanton should illustrate his long poem never done any lithography he answered November, and the Fine Art Society, of the picture surface is displayed to
'The Ship of Death'; this was never 'I find it impossible to draw in black Edinburgh, 9-30 November. much better advantage in his early
completed as a long poem, but resulted and white and think in colour'. This In 1911 in Paris, the Scottish painter portraits. His portrait of Anne Estelle
in the 'Ship of Death and other Poems' makes sense as he is one of those artists J,D. Fergusson painted a picture of a Rice, probably painted shortly after his
published in 1933. Between 1926 and who excel in black and white — one of robust young nude, balancing an apple arrival in Paris, is remarkably assured
1935 Hughes-Stanton produced over those artists to whom colour is almost in the palm of her hand. The curve of considering his limited experience.
300 wood engravings for an intimidating superfluous but who can range black the spherical apple is repeated in her Soon, however, the tranquil elegance of
25 different books. In many cases he and white almost through the spectrum. cherry-tipped breasts, which in turn act such portraits was replaced by a new
set the type, designed the typography, He sees in black and white almost all as a further key to the system of
audacity: the delicate rose-tints
supervised and in some cases actually the colour he needs. interrelated patterns by which the metamorphosed into acid greens and
did the printing. He sometimes did the The drawings and individual prints picture is constructed, He called the yellows and Fergusson had embarked
bindings in a variety of leathers and on show at the Lehmans Gallery in picture Rhythm and without doubt it on his fauvist phase.
toolings; he even designed and hand Grafton Street through October, show marks the highpoint of a career which Of all the so-called 'movements' in
cut his own type in some instances. In the underlying fabric of Hughes-Stanton was to last another fifty years. It so modern art, 'Fauvism' is perhaps the
short he took the whole business of work. It shows that he gains much impressed Middleton Murry, when he least homogeneous. Matisse wrote that
wood engraving as an illustrative form impetus from literature, which accounts saw it at the Salon d'Automne later 'composition is the art of arranging in a
and shook it into a new era. In doing for his involvement with illustrators, that year, that he decided to name his decorative manner the various elements
so he became, in this country, the but it also demonstrates the delight he new literary magazine after it, The at a painter's disposal for the expression
most comprehensive master of all gets from exercising his considerable magazine Rhythm was founded in of his feelings'. Curiously enough, it has
aspects of the medium — a position he talent for showing life and mass. He order to provide 'an art, be it drawing, been suggested that it is the emotional
still holds more than 40 years later, has great freedom of mind, combined literature or criticism, which shall be impact of Fergusson's work which
His book production is immense, with great freedom of skill, whether it vigorous and determined, which shall separates it from that of the Fauves. In
but the bedrock of the engraving and be in pen, pencil, watercolour or have its roots below the surface, and be fact the reverse is closer to the truth.
painting (he is also a prolific painter) is charcoal, or with pushing the graver the rhythmical echo of the life with Fergusson invariably depersonalises his
his continuous involvement with through hard intractable boxwood, which it is in touch'. These brave subjects, seeming to consider them
drawing. He acknowledges his debt to always achieving exuberance and words, which clearly reflect the purely in terms of light and colour.
Underwood's initial teaching which sensuality. aspirations of the Fauves in Paris, found Consequently the subsequent
was obviously a good grounding. Like a Blair Hughes-Stanton is still in great a real expression, at least for a time, in arrangement of form and tone is
lot of artists who have a strong affinity demand as a teacher at the Central the work of J.D. Fergusson. essentially decorative in effect. It is
with black and white, he makes many School of Art London, where he has His early low-key still-lifes, painted always clear that the tonal syncopation
exploratory overtures into colour — maintained single handed for many in Edinburgh at the end of the nineties, is very carefully worked out, but it is
years what must be one of the last reveal his admiration for the Glasgow only gradually that his sense of design
Whales 1933 Wood engraving for 'The bastions of wood engraving in Britain, boys. In contrast his out-door scenes are re-emerges as the strongest feature of
Ship .of Death and other Poems' by Norman Ackroyd evidently inspired by Whistler. Even at his work. The vivid patches of pure
D,H. Lawrence 6 x 4½ in.
colour become subservient to the over-
all pattern, coalescing into solid blocks
which reinforce the structure of the
whole.
His best pictures date from the
short period when he used brilliant
Fauvist hues as part of a more formal
and disciplined composition. The vivid
magenta of La Bête Violette is picked
out again in the background hangings,
so that the entire surface is welded into
a rhythmic design. At the same time
the patterns are conceived in depth and
he is always solidly aware of three-
dimensional form. His full-scale nudes,
undoubtedly his most impressive
achievement, are invariably extremely
statuesque. In At My Studio Window
the curve of the model's massive hip is
repeated in the voluminous drapery, so
that she is fused with the background
in a locked relationship. When he
moved to the South of France his
pictures became more sensitive but they
lost his particular brand of exuberant
confidence which is so effective in the
nudes. In his painting of Portsmouth
Dock, painted after he joined the Royal
Navy in 1918, the heavy black outline
he earlier relied on so extensively has
disappeared. Instead the picture depends
solely on its vibrant but fundamentally
naturalistic colour. The impact is sadly
diminished.
In 1924 Fergusson was fifty. He
continued to paint for another thirty
years but unfortunately few of his
works after that date convey his early
éclat. The sinuous lines and free handling
is replaced by bright little bunches of
rigid strokes laid on in random
directions. The anatomical weaknesses
become more pronounced and the
dancing lights of his fauvist flesh tones
are replaced by a grossly insensitive
(Top) T.D. Fergusson At My Studio butcher pink. There are of course
Window 1919 Oil on canvas, 62¾ x exceptions, such as the sun-drenched
48% in. Megalith of 1931 or the highly
(Bottom) Rhythm 1911 Oil on canvas, successful portrait of Grace McColl. On
65½ x 46¼,i in. the whole, however, his work of the