On the Cap

John Duncan Fergusson was a leading 'Scottish colourist', along with Samuel Peploe, Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and George Leslie Hunter. Self-taught, and at the vanguard of British artists who absorbed new developments in French painting, Fergusson transformed his style while living in Paris in the early 20th century. The French Fauvist artists, including Henri Matisse, were particularly influential on Fergusson. He became increasingly experimental, adopting simplified outlines and pulsating brushwork to accentuate the bold colours in his painting.

'On the Cap' was painted after a trip to the French Rivera, a place of pleasure and pilgrimage for artists and tourists by the early 1920s. Evoking the glamour of the resort towns and the sparkling heat of the Mediterranean summer, Fergusson paints a vibrant landscape cradling the streamlined forms of the women. The picnicking pair sit frozen before the expansive view like a snapshot told through shimmering colour.