Background
Fergusson, who sometimes signed her work as Chris J Fergusson, was born in Dumfries, one of five children of James Stark, a solicitor, and his wife Agnes Waugh Drape.
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Christian Fergusson
Edit ProfileEducation
She attended school at the Dumfries Academy before travelling in Europe where she visited France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. When she returned to Britain, Fergusson studied at the Crystal Palace School of Art in London. From about 1900 to 1906 Fergusson attended the Glasgow School of Art, first as a student and then as a tutor.
Career
She was awarded one of the first Diplomas awarded at the School of Artist She also taught for a year between 1905 and 1906 on secondment at Kirkcudbright Academy and then as Principal Teacher of Art at the Glasgow High School for Girls. As well as painting, she produced metalwork and tapestry pieces and came to be regarded as one of the group, later, known as the Glasgow Girls.
She was also active in the Suffragette movement.
Whilst studying at Glasgow she became engaged to David Fergusson, a young solicitor, whom she married in 1908. The couple settled in Maxwelltown where they began to raise a family.
The family home was decorated in art nouveau style by Fergusson. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Fergusson travelled widely in Scotland and painted several views of the Isle of Arran, the East Neuk of Fife and of Saint Abbs in Berwickshire which are considered among her best works.
In 1928 Fergusson was elected to the Society of Scottish Artists.
An exhibition of some 116 paintings by Fergusson was held in Dumfries in 1952 and a retrospective exhibition of her work was held in the same town in 1957. Two works by Fergusson, Salutation Inn, Dumfries and The Brigadier-end of Dumfries hang in the Dumfries Council Chamber Room.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
January 5, 1957 (aged 80) -
Nationality
Scottish