JOHN DUNCAN FERGUSSON: SCOTTISH COLOURIST

A friend of Picasso, a fearless penny farthing rider and a man who claimed not to

remember when his birthday was, because it was how well you felt and what you did that

mattered, John Duncan Fergusson was in Paris when it was the centre of the world for

artists and the birthplace of modern art. He and his partner Margaret Morris, the pioneer of

modern dance, formed a lifelong artistic partnership in which each spurred the other on to

fulfil their potential. This lecture will introduce the man and his work, and discuss his

important role in supporting younger artists right to the end of his long and happy life.

Julia Marwood

Julia has loved looking at art since discovering the work of Gustav Klimt while teaching

English in Austria as part of her German degree course at the University of Durham. She

spent the first part of her career teaching German, then did a Master’s in Teaching English

at the University of Manchester, and went on to teach international students in the city. She

became a tour guide at Manchester Art Gallery and knew at once that this was what she

really wanted to do, spending every spare moment learning about art history. She

eventually left language teaching in 2018 and since then has loved spending all her time

sharing her passion for art as a speaker to many different groups. She became an

Accredited Lecturer of The Arts Society in 2020, specialising in Scottish art from 1880 and

the art of Manchester. She and her astronomer husband love to travel around Europe and

take every opportunity to visit art galleries wherever they go, but Scotland has always

been their favourite destination!