I have competed this write up some days after visiting the McLean Museum and Art Gallery in Greenock, Scotland. JD Ferguson is one of the four famous Scottish Colourists.
I would have imagined the painting was completed at a single session. Perhaps the artist is ‘time stamping’ his creation into a specific day. This is a hallmark of the experienced painter. The composition looks balanced. The hills in the distance in top left corner announce that the town is surrounded by higher ground. The tree in the right foreground conveniently means there is less of the town’s buildings to include in detail. The church steeple provides a central point of attention and stamps the point of observation. The colours are restricted. There is no blue sky. The walls of the buildings are white washed, presumably to reflect back some of the highest heat of summer.
What time of day is it? Perhaps it was in the relative cool of the morning. The paint looks not too thickly applied. In places darker hues are thinly spread over a lighter background. As the painting was completed probably the entire canvas surface had the consistency of fresh/fluid oil paint.
The artist painted several views of the town in France. This particular one could be described as ‘classic’ where the object of the exercise appears to be the wish to share the prospect of the town with a wider community. It has certain overtones of the works of Cézanne.
