| JAN NIGRO b. 1920 | |
 NZHERALD Photo. |
 Jan Nigro, Symbols & Textures, Port of Auckland, 1996, oil on canvas, 84 x 107 cm |
| Price Range $1,200 Work available from 1950 - the present Jan Nigro is described by Ron Brownson, senior curator in New Zealand and Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery as “a living hero…She has a huge heart for the truths within other’s lives. I consider Jan to be one of New Zealand’s bravest and insightful artists." Born in Gisborne in 1920, Nigro enrolled at Elam, School of Fine Arts, Auckland in 1937 and studied under the tutelage of Archie Fisher, John Weeks and Lois White. It was here that she met her future husband, the artist, Gerry (Angelo) Nigro. After the war they moved to Australia where Nigro became established as an Australian artist exhibiting in both Melbourne and Sydney. On their return to New Zealand they settled in Rotorua where Nigro explored abstraction before returning to the figure; which has been a source of inspiration across her now 70 year career. From Rotorua they moved to Auckland settling first in Northcote and then Waiheke Island, where she lived for 25 years. Nigro now lives in Takapuna. In 1996 Claire Finlayson wrote her thesis on Nigro, and entitled it "Jan Nigro - Topographer of the Social". In it Finlayson discusses how in the first two and a half decades of the artist's career Nigro submitted the figure to a “formal analysis” and how since then she has "undertaken to examine the figure from a range of sexual, social, cultural and psychological perspectives". Nigro is an astute observer of human behaviour, succinctly appraising the world around her in her search to understand the figure. The human figure has remained constant for her as the greatest and most lasting source of inspiration. She likes to build a strong rapport with her models and build themes around them. They are portraits only in the sense that we can often identify the sitter. Primarily Nigro uses the figure as a means to represent the themes and subjects, which she chooses to explore. In 1993 she was awarded an MBE for Services to the Arts. In 1996 David Bateman Ltd published her autobiography an "Apple for the Teacher". During 2001-2002 a survey of her work - A Portrait of Jan Nigro - toured to the National Portrait Gallery, Wellington and the Rotorua Museum of Art & History. Today Jan Nigro still meets weekly with fellow artists to draw and be inspired by the models who sit for the group. As always she seeks to challenge herself be it by medium or interpretation of a subject. She is aware of the trends of her time and responds to the way society adapts to issues by delivering works that are innovative and unique. Nigro is represented in many private and public collections both in New Zealand and internationally; including Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery, Rotorua Museum of Art & History, The Dowse, Hawke’s Bay Museum. |
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