Woman in Hat (oil on hardboard)

Undated. One of a number of female portrait heads depicting the sitter wearing a prominent hat. The identity of the sitter is not known and Fergusson often relegated this aspect in his quest for a more universdal less personal depiction of the hatted female. This picture has large numbers and letters painted across it which may indicate, however crudely, an awareness of the collage work of Braque and Picasso where lettering was introduced to their work. This picture also reveals much of the influence of the fauves (Wild Beasts) whose work Fergusson came in contact with at the Salon des Independants in Paris during his stay there in the years before the 1914-18 War. In particular the heavy blue outline to the face, the non naturalistic colouring and the dark schematised eyes