# John Duncan Fergusson artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/john-duncan-fergusson/
Profile generated: 2026-05-03T06:49:28.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1874-03-09
- Death date: 1961-01-30
- Nationality: Scottish, British
- Movements: Scottish Colourists
- Common media: oil painting, sculpture, etching, watercolor and drawing, illustration and graphic art

## About John Duncan Fergusson

John Duncan Fergusson (1874–1961) was a Scottish painter and sculptor, widely recognized as one of the leading figures of the Scottish Colourists. Born in Leith, Edinburgh on 9 March 1874, Fergusson was largely self-taught and began his career around 1894. He spent formative periods in Paris from 1907 onward, absorbing Post-Impressionist and Fauvist ideas that shaped his distinctive bold color and expressive form. Alongside Samuel Peploe, Francis Cadell, and Leslie Hunter, Fergusson formed the core of the Scottish Colourist group, which brought Continental modernism into Scottish painting. His output spanned oils, watercolor, sculpture, etching, and illustration. He divided his career between France and Scotland for decades, with extended stays in Paris, the south of France, and Edinburgh, before settling in Glasgow where he died on 30 January 1961. His work is held in major UK public collections including the Tate.

## Common works and media

Fergusson's most commonly encountered works at auction are oil paintings, especially landscapes, coastal scenes, female portraits and nudes, and still lifes. He also produced sculpture, etchings, and works on paper including drawings and watercolors. Illustration and graphic design work forms a smaller part of his output. Subjects frequently reflect his time in Paris, the Mediterranean coast, and the Scottish countryside. Smaller studies and sketches appear occasionally and can offer collectors accessible entry points.

## Market and appraisal context

John Duncan Fergusson has a well-established auction footprint spanning 237 recorded lots and 167 priced results between 1999 and late 2024. The market is anchored by Christie's, where the artist's top prices are consistently achieved, including £1,074,000 for the wartime oil 'Submarines and Camouflaged Battleship' (March 2023), £412,500 for an untitled work (April 2021), and £75,000 each for 'Luxembourg Gardens, Evening' (October 2021) and 'Villa Gotte Plage' (January 2020). Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Lyon & Turnbull provide additional blue-chip coverage, while regional UK houses such as Roseberys, McTear's, Ewbank's, and Forum Auctions handle mid-tier and works-on-paper material. The price distribution is wide: the 25th percentile sits at £2,500, the median at £5,000, and the 75th percentile at £27,500, indicating a stratified market where period, subject, scale, and medium drive substantial price separation. Works on paper and smaller studies trade in the low hundreds to low thousands, while important Paris-period and inter-war oils command five and six figures. Recent liquidity is thin, however, with no recorded priced lots in the most recent 12 months and only one in the preceding 12 months, suggesting that institutional-quality material appears selectively rather than in steady supply.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

John Duncan Fergusson has a well-established auction footprint spanning 237 recorded lots and 167 priced results between 1999 and late 2024. The market is anchored by Christie's, where the artist's top prices are consistently achieved, including £1,074,000 for the wartime oil 'Submarines and Camouflaged Battleship' (March 2023), £412,500 for an untitled work (April 2021), and £75,000 each for 'Luxembourg Gardens, Evening' (October 2021) and 'Villa Gotte Plage' (January 2020). Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Lyon & Turnbull provide additional blue-chip coverage, while regional UK houses such as Roseberys, McTear's, Ewbank's, and Forum Auctions handle mid-tier and works-on-paper material. The price distribution is wide: the 25th percentile sits at £2,500, the median at £5,000, and the 75th percentile at £27,500, indicating a stratified market where period, subject, scale, and medium drive substantial price separation. Works on paper and smaller studies trade in the low hundreds to low thousands, while important Paris-period and inter-war oils command five and six figures. Recent liquidity is thin, however, with no recorded priced lots in the most recent 12 months and only one in the preceding 12 months, suggesting that institutional-quality material appears selectively rather than in steady supply.

### Appraisal notes

An appraisal of a Fergusson work would begin with secure attribution — confirming the work against the artist's known oeuvre, signature style, and documented periods. The Appraisily auction-record index provides 167 priced comparables spanning 25 years, with strong representation at Christie's and Bonhams for premium oils and at regional UK houses for drawings, etchings, and smaller works. Key appraisal inputs beyond the auction records include: high-resolution photographs showing brushwork, signature, and any labels or inscriptions on the reverse; confirmed dimensions and medium (oil on canvas, oil on board, watercolor, etching, or sculpture); condition report addressing craquelure, relining, inpainting, or paper tone for works on paper; documented provenance ideally tracing to the artist's estate, a named collector, or a reputable dealer; and edition details for prints or sculpture. The auction record shows that Paris-period works (ca. 1907–1914), large-scale figurative oils, and important wartime subjects command a premium tier, while later French coastal scenes and Edinburgh-period portraits and still lifes occupy a broad middle band. Works on paper and etchings provide a lower entry point. The appraiser would select comparable lots matched on period, medium, subject, scale, and condition, then adjust for market-trend direction and the specific work's quality relative to those comparables.

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### Market caveats

- The most recent 12 months show zero priced auction results in the Appraisily index, and the preceding 12 months show only one. Short-term trend observations are therefore unreliable; appraisals should draw on the full 25-year record.
- The £1,074,000 result for 'Submarines and Camouflaged Battleship' is a significant outlier (roughly 14× the p75 price) driven by the work's unique wartime subject and historical importance. It should not be used as a direct comparable for typical Fergusson oils.
- Some lots in the record are titled without dimensions, medium confirmation, or images, limiting the precision of category-level analysis. Attribution for unsigned or minimally catalogued lots at regional houses carries elevated risk.
- Auction results reflect hammer prices or prices including buyer's premium depending on the source house's reporting convention; direct comparison across houses may include methodological variation.
- The Appraisily auction-record index reflects lots publicly listed through partner feeds and may not capture every private sale or house-only result. The 237-lot count is a lower bound on total market activity.
- No dedicated artist estate or foundation website was identified in the source pack. If the J.D. Fergusson Archive or the Fergusson Gallery in Perth maintains a catalogue raisonné or authentication service, that would be an important additional resource for appraisal.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/john-duncan-fergusson/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-john-duncan-fergusson-three-dancing-figures-8-c-d804991b7a
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-john-duncan-fergusson-easter-sunday-1931-6-c-0454641961
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-john-duncan-fergusson-coastal-scene-with-boat-c-1914-5-c-36e4a3b9a6

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For this artist, identity data is drawn from the Library of Congress, VIAF, Wikidata, RKD, and the Tate collection.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84208849
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/27693
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/225424550/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q345905
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/j-d-fergusson-1089
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Duncan_Fergusson
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500016510