Jan Nigro

Jan Nigro MBE (born Betty Aislabie; 16 April 1919 — 28 March 2012) was a New Zealand artist.

Early life

Nigro was born Betty Aislabie in Gisborne on 16 April 1919, the daughter of Arthur Aislabie and Olive Beatrice Aislabie (née Lange).[1][2][3] She studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts from 1936 to 1938, under Archibald Fisher. "The figure was drummed into me by Archie Fisher," she recalled, "he dragged me into the life class, he trained me to look at the figure."[4]

Career

Nigro painted in various media, abstracts and human figures, though she is best known for her colourful nude figures.[5] "A dressed person tells you a lot about them, about the period they lived in," she explained in a 2011 interview, "but when you get to the nude you get to the real person."[6] She exhibited her art at the Auckland City Art Gallery in 1939, and again the following year, as a member of the Auckland Society for Arts. In 1946 she participated in a show in Sydney. Her first solo show was in Melbourne in 1948,[7] with a second in the same city in 1950, and another upon returning to live in New Zealand in 1952. Further solo and group shows followed, with multiple exhibitions nearly every year from the mid-1960s until her death.[3]

Nigro was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 New Year Honours, for services to art (listed as "Mrs Betty (Jan) Nigro").[8] She published an autobiography titled Apple for the Teacher in 1996.[9][10]

In 2016 a posthumous solo exhibition of Nigro's work was mounted at the Aesthete Gallery in Hamilton, New Zealand.[9] Her work is held in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki,[11] Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa [12] and Waiheke Community Art Gallery [13]

Personal life

Aislabie married fellow artist and property developer Angelo (Gerry) Nigro in 1942.[14] They had four children together. Her son Peter died by drowning in 1992,[15] and Gerry Nigro died in 1994. Jan Nigro died in 2012, in her Takapuna home.[16]

References
  1. "Birth". Poverty Bay Herald. 19 April 1919. p. 2. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  2. "Birth search: registration number 1919/9569". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  3. Jan Nigro biography, timeline, Jane Sanders Art Agent.
  4. Ron Brownson, "Jan Nigro 1920-2012" Outpost (30 March 2012).
  5. Eleanor Black, "Drawn to the Naked Form" New Zealand Herald (6 June 2002).
  6. Sally Blundell, "Jan Nigro Interview" Noted (8 October 2011).
  7. "Landscapes and Flower Pieces" The Age (17 August 1948): 2. JGGHJHJKJLOIOLKKJHGFDSFGHJKLJHYvia Trove
  8. "No. 53154". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1992. p. 30.
  9. Kelsey Wilkie, "Jan Nigro's First Solo Exhibition Since Death" Stuff (4 November 2016).
  10. Jan Nigro, Apple for the Teacher (David Bateman 1996). ISBN 9781869533052
  11. "Artist: Jane Nigro". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  12. Artist: Jan Nigro
  13. "NZ Post Gifts Jan Nigro Paintings to the Waiheke Community Art Gallery" Waiheke Community Art Gallery News (13 May 2015).
  14. "Nude Loving Painter Jan Nigro Dies" New Zealand Painting (30 March 2012).
  15. "Siege Man Obsessed by Death" New Zealand Herald (28 January 2005).
  16. Anna Leask, "Police Investigate Artist's Death" New Zealand Herald (14 April 2012).
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