HE is one of Scotland’s – and the UK’s – greatest painters and yet one of JD Fergusson’s finest works, Etude de Rhythm, has not been on show for nearly a century. Thankfully, a major new show about ground-breaking Scottish art at the National Galleries of Scotland is about to put that right. But brace yourselves: Etude de Rhythm is an extraordinary, and some might say shocking, piece of art.
The subject of the painting, completed by Fergusson in 1910, is a couple having sex, and although it is abstract and open to interpretation, it is still one of the most provocative and explicit works of art ever painted by a British painter. Sadly though, after being shown only once in Paris, it has not been seen in public since.
The fact that it is now due to appear in the new show at the National Galleries will finally bring the painting back to public attention. It will also be a vivid reminder of Fergusson’s status. He is well known as one of the Scottish Colourists, but Fergusson was the most daring of the group, the most adventurous, and Etude de Rhythm is vivid proof of it.
Hopefully too, the showing of Etude de Rhythm could also point to a little more bravery, and a little less predictability, in Scotland’s public culture and art. Fergusson was never afraid to challenge the traditional; one of the aims of the art in our galleries, on our streets, and in our great public spaces, should be to do the same.
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