St Jacques Studio, 1909 by John Duncan Fergusson

John Duncan Fergusson was a Scottish artist and sculptor and is regarded as one of the major artists of the Scottish Colourists school of painting. Born in Edinburgh, he enrolled at art school but became disenchanted with the teaching style and decided to teach himself to paint. He travelled to Morocco, Spain and France where he became acquainted with other artists of the day who included Samuel Peploe who was also in the group of artists who became known as the Scottish Colourists. Ferguson studied in Paris at the Louvre where he was very influenced by Impressionist paintings and later by Fauvism where the  use of colour greatly influenced his art. He was part of the Paris cafe society and mingled with the artists there including Matisse and Picasso. He moved back to Glasgow in 1939 and in 1940 founded the New Art Club, out of which emerged the New Scottish Group of painters of which he became the first president.