Nancy Maybin Ferguson

The Church Tower

A native Philadelphian, Nancy Ferguson was a highly regarded member of The Philadelphia Ten. After graduating from Philadelphia High School for Girls, she embarked on a rewarding period of study, first at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women under Elliot Daingerfield, and then at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Chase, Breckenridge, Hawthorne, Carles and McCarter. She won an impressive five fellowships including the coveted Cresson Traveling Scholarship for travel abroad from the Academy in 1909. While her permanent residence was in Philadelphia, she fell in love with the picturesque village of Provincetown, Massachusetts, where her former teacher, Charles Hawthorne conducted a summer school. For most of her adult life, she divided her time between the two locations. She preferred to paint street scenes portraying a lot of activity. Her Philadelphia scenes of Rittenhouse Square and Fairmont Park are well known as are her many views in and around Provincetown. Ferguson’s earlier work is often compared to that of Maurice Prendergast. In fact, Dr. Albert Barnes purchased one of her works for his collection and used it for comparison to Prendergast in his art appreciation course. Today, it remains in the permanent collection of the Barnes Foundation. Her later works from the mid-1920s and 1930s take on a more Modernist style. These usually depict the tightly clustered architecture, winding roads and crowded harbors of Provincetown. In addition to exhibiting with The Philadelphia Ten (1923–27, 1930–38), Ferguson was invited to exhibit at many prestigious salons, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, the Woodmere Art Gallery, the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, the National Academy of Design, the Carnegie Institute, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Paris Salon, among others.