Beau Site (Margaret Morris the Dancer)
This picture shows Margaret Morris, later to be the artist's wife, seated on the terrace of the Hotel Beau Site at Cap D'Antibes. This was a composition which Fergusson was to rework several times in later years. At the time it was painted, Fergusson knew Picasso (1881-1973), and his influence is apparent in the sculptural forms of the head and torso. It is Fergusson's own style, however, that gives the picture its delightful warm colouring and its relaxed and lyrical quality. Fergusson, with Cadell (1883-1937), Peploe (1871-1935) and Hunter (1877-1931) was one of the Scottish Colourists, whose lively use of colour in imitation of Matisse (1869-1954) and the Fauves, helped to lift Scottish art out of the sombre, academic tradition of the late 19th century.
