Location: Marshall Place, Perth PH2 8NS

The Fergusson Gallery, in Perth’s former waterworks has now closed and the art collections have been moved to Perth Art Gallery. (Ref: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-courier-advertiser-perth-and-perthshire-edition/20171106/281582355901129)

The former waterworks building is A listed and situated on the corner of Marshall Place and Tay Street. The gallery housed the works of the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson (1874 – 1961), one of the four “Scottish Colourists”, who was born in Leith but had ancestral links to Perthshire. Fergusson trained in Paris at the Academie Julian and Academie Colarossi towards the end of the nineteenth century. He lived in Paris permanently for a while but even during times he lived Britain he travelled to France regularly. He was strongly influenced by the modern movements in French art at the time, like Fauvism, by Dutch portraiture and by art styles he encountered during his travels, like the work of Diego Velasquez in Spain.

Fergusson developed an interest in capturing dance and became part of an artists’ group known as the Rhythmists. In 1913 he met his partner (and often business partner) Margaret Morris, a famous dancer and choreographer. The gallery in Perth also now contains the archives of her work.

While thriving in the atmosphere of Paris, Fergusson always considered himself a true Scotsman – taking his Celtic identity with him to Europe.

You can read more about Fergusson here or see some of his sketches here.

Directly outside the gallery, the sculpture “Torse de Femme” is of a female torso is a cast of a JD Fergusson sculpture. It is part of the River Tay Public Art Trail.

Walking Instructions: To get to our next stop, come out of the gallery, turn left and walk along Tay Street to the zebra crossing at the railway bridge. Use the crossing to cross Tay Street towards the River Tay and walk along the riverside walkway towards the town centre. You will pass various public art exhibits from the River Tay Public Art Trail plus the various features of the flood defence system. Cross across Queen’s Bridge and look out for our next stop which is the carvings on the pillars on the flood defence wall as we continue walking along the riverside walkway.