Price Range $1,200-$40,000 NZD
Work available from 1950 - the present

Ron Brownson, senior curator in New Zealand and Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery describes Jan Nigro 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 work with the figure. Later they moved to Northcote, Auckland before settling on Waiheke Island for 25 years. Nigro now lives in Takapuna.

In 1996 Claire Finlayson wrote a 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".

For Nigro the human figure has remained constant 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.

Nigro is an astute observer of human behaviour, succinctly appraising the world around her in her search to understand the figure. 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.

She was awarded the MBE for Services to the Arts in 1993 and in 1996 published her autobiography "Apple for the Teacher" with David Bateman Ltd, Auckland. During 2001-2002 "A Portrait of Jan Nigro", a survey of her work, toured to the National Portrait Gallery, Wellington and the Rotorua Museum of Art & History.

Nigro's work is held in many private and public collections both in New Zealand and internationally.

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