This painting was one of Fergusson's largest and most ambitious of the period. It is much indebted to Whistler's Firework Nocturne paintings, not only for its subject, but also in the reliance on tonal harmonies. A memorial exhibition of Whistler's work was held in Paris and London in 1905, which Fergusson may well have seen. The man dressed in grey with his back to us, standing on the left, is the artist S.J. Peploe. Peploe and Fergusson met at the turn of the century and often went on painting trips together, particularly to France.
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