Christian Jane Fergusson, née Stark, (14 September 1876 – 5 January 1957), was a Scottish painter, who was associated with the

Glasgow School The Glasgow School was a circle of influential artists and designers that began to coalesce in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s, and flourished from the 1890s to around 1910. Representative groups included The Four (also known as the Spook Schoo ...

and known for her landscape and still life works.

Biography

Fergusson, who sometimes signed her work as Chris J Fergusson, was born in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, one of five children of James Stark, a solicitor, and his wife Agnes Waugh Drape. She attended school at the

Dumfries Academy Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in Dumfries in south west Scotland. It is a state funded secondary school for both girls and boys. The schools moto is "doctrina promovet" which translates from Latin to "learning promotes" which ...

before travelling in Europe where she visited France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. When she returned to Britain, Fergusson studied at the Crystal Palace School of Art in London. From about 1900 to 1906 Fergusson attended the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

, first as a student and then as a tutor. She was awarded one of the first Diplomas awarded at the School of Art. She also taught for a year between 1905 and 1906 on secondment at

Kirkcudbright Academy Kirkcudbright Academy is a state funded, six-year secondary school in Kirkcudbright, Scotland with about 400 pupils and 87 staff including teaching, support and administration. Notable alumni *Jennie Adamson, Labour Party politician, junior m ...

and then as Principal Teacher of Art at the Glasgow High School for Girls. Later, sho would also teach at the Benedictine Convent School in Dumfries. As well as painting, Fergusson produced metalwork and tapestry pieces and came to be regarded as one of the group, later, known as the Glasgow Girls. She was also active in the

Suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

movement. Whilst studying at Glasgow she became engaged to David Fergusson, a young solicitor, whom she married in 1908. The couple settled in

Maxwelltown Maxwelltown (, IPA: �kʰʲaun̴̪ˈt̪ɾɔxətʲ was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh and by the time of the burgh's abolition in 1929 it was the most populous burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. In 1929 Maxwellto ...

where they began to raise a family. The family home was decorated in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style by Fergusson. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Fergusson travelled widely in Scotland and painted several views of the

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; ) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Counties of Scotland, Historically part of Buteshire, it is in the ...

, the

East Neuk of Fife The East Neuk () or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland. "Neuk" is the Scots word for nook or corner, and the East Neuk is generally accepted to comprise the fishing villages of the most northerly part of the Firth of ...

and of St. Abbs in Berwickshire which are considered among her best works. In 1922, a year after the birth of her third child, Fergusson was among the co-founders, along with Jessie M. King, E.A. Taylor and E.A. Hornel of the Dumfries and Galloway Fine Art Society, which in its early years, exhibited work by many distinguished Scottish artists. In 1928 Fergusson was elected to the

Society of Scottish Artists The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organisation which seeks to ''promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art.'' It was founded in 1891 by Patrick Geddes, William Gordon Burn Murdoch and ...

. Fergusson won the Lauder Award from the

Glasgow Society of Lady Artists The Glasgow Society of Lady Artists was founded in 1882 by eight female students of the Glasgow School of Art with the aim of affording due recognition to women in the field of art. It has been described by Jude Burkhauser as "the first residenti ...

three times, in 1933, 1938 and in 1954. An exhibition of some 116 paintings by Fergusson was held in Dumfries in 1952 and a retrospective exhibition of her work was held in the same town in 1957. Two works by Fergusson, ''Salutation Inn, Dumfries'' and ''The Brig-end of Dumfries'' hang in the Dumfries Council Chamber Room.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fergusson, Christian Jane, 1876 births 1957 deaths 20th-century Scottish painters Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School People educated at Dumfries Academy People from Dumfries Glasgow Society of Women Artists member 20th-century Scottish women painters