Exhibition March 2007

Copyright  © 2004 Pollock Gallery

John T. Rigby

“New Paintings & Selected Gems”

…John . Rigby is a distinguished Queensland artist (now 84) and is holding his first Melbourne exhibition since 1969 at Leveson St Gallery.. The Brisbane artist is a living treasure who has lived through some amazing times, and ranks alongside Ray Crooke as one of Queenslands artistic elders

The Book “John Rigby. Art and Life” is available at Pollock Gallery.

A selection of the paintings follow:

Click on an image for a larger view… for any information call or e-mail us

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Toledo, Spain Oil on canvas 132 x 183 cm
Tropical Path, Hinchinbrook Island Oil on canvas 91 x 106 cm
St Bees Bay, Nth Queensland Oil on canvas 76 x 91.5 cm
Trephina Gorge, MacDonell Ranges Oil on canvas 83.5 x 91 cm
Palm Bay, Long Island Acrylic on canvas 83.5 x 91 cm
Palm Bay, Bougainvillea Acrylic on canvas 83.5 x 91 cm
Raratonga Remembered Oil on canvas 137 x 153 cm
Creek Walk Oil on canvas 76.3 x 101.5 cm
Plantation, Raratonga Oil on canvas 112 x 122 cm
Promenade, Raratonga Oil on canvas 137 x 153 cm
Fijian Woman & Child Oil on canvas 34.3 x 24 cm
Islanders Fiji Oil on canvas 24.3 x 24.3cm
Stilt Houses, Paddington Oil on canvas 84 x 91 cm
Aboriginal Girl With Dog Oil on canvas 63 x 57.5 cm
Church of Paraportiani, Mykonos Oil on canvas 40.5 x 50.5cm
Santorini. Oil on canvas 50.5 x 40.5cm
News Weary 2. Oil on board 122 x 91.5 cm
Pink Still Life. Oil on canvas 58 x 41 cm
St Paul de Vence, France Oil on canvas 84 x 30.5 cm
Self Portrait Oil on paper 85 x 55 cm
Brampton Island Silk Screen Print Limited Edition of 65 42 x 48 cm
Moogerah Lake Silk Screen Print Limited Edition of 50 44 x 54 cm
Pentecost from Lindeman Island Silk Screen Print Limited Edition of 25 46 x 55 cm

JOHN THOMAS RIGBY

Artist Biography

1922 Born in Brisbane on 9 December. Later lived at Palen Creek south-west of Brisbane, briefly in Brisbane again, and then near the Glass House

Mountains north of Brisbane by the early 1930s.

1937-38 Studied art at Central Technical College, Brisbane.

1939-41 Worked in commercial art at National Advertising in Brisbane.

1941 First public showing of work (Royal Queensland Art Society Annual

Exhibition in Brisbane).

1942-46 Served in the Australian Military Forces, mainly in Townsville and

Mareeba, Queensland, and New Guinea.

1946-47 Worked as a freelance commercial artist in Brisbane and was sports

cartoonist for The Sunday Mail, Brisbane.

1948-50 Studied for a Diploma in Fine Art at East Sydney Technical College under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme.

1951 Awarded a Diploma in Fine Art in January; returned to painting and

commercial art in Brisbane, living in the suburb of Kedron. John and

Shirley separated.

1954 First showing in the Archibald Prize for 1953 with a portrait of Jon

Molvig. First one-man exhibition at The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane. Began presenting private art classes at St Mary's Church Hall, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.

1955 Won the Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship (organized by the National Gallery Society of New South Wales and the Dante Alighieri

Society).

1956 to live and paint in Italy. Later visited England and France.

1957 One of 10 finalists in The Australian Women's Weekly Portrait Prize.

1958 Arrived back in Australia and resumed working in graphic art and painting in Brisbane. Won The Australian Women's Weekly Art Prize for best

portrait (of wife Margaret).

1959 Won three Queensland centenary year art prizes.

1961 Founding Executive Member of the Contemporary Art Society,

Queensland Branch.

1962 Moved to Brisbane's western suburbs.

1963 Won the Sir John Sulman Prize for 1962, Art Gallery of NSW.

1966 Started Rigby Studio, an advertising art studio with staff.

1969-87 Trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

1972 Left the field of commercial art to paint full time.

1973 Commenced teaching at the College of Art, GeorgeStreet, Brisbane.

1974-84 Senior Instructor/Officer-in-Charge at Brisbane's School of Fine Art,

Queensland College of Art (now part of Griffith University).

1980 Featured in UNICEF's 'Queensland Men of Achievement' photographic

exhibition.

1981 Toured US galleries with fellow artists.

1984 Retired from the College of Art and returned to full-time painting. Painted

on Lord Howe Island.

1985 Invited to paint in Kakadu National Park under the Artists in the Field

program run by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

Painted in the Whitsunday Islands.

1987 Painting trip in Tasmania.

1989 Painted throughout Western Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga and the

Cook Islands.

1990 Travelled to Greece, England and France.

1992 Painted on Thursday Island, Torres Strait.

1995 Travelled to Egypt and Central Australia with works resulting from both

trips in later solo shows.

1996 Painted in Bali.

1997 Travelled to North Queensland and painted around Port Douglas and the Daintree National Park

1999 Visited galleries in Spain and continued to Italy with wife Margaret and

son Mark to revisit places lived in during the 1950s.

2000 Painted in Fiji.

2003 Painted on St Bees and Keswick Islands, North Queensland.

Launch of the book "John Rigby: Art & Life" by John Millington and

Mark Rigby at the Queensland Art Gallery

2004 Major survey of portraits by John Rigby mounted by the Museum of

Brisbane, City Hall

Present Lives and works in Brisbane, Australia. Conducts occasional art

workshops throughout Queensland, as he has done for many decades.

SELECTED PRIZES AND AWARDS

1955 Italian Government Travelling Art Scholarship, Sydney

1958 The Australian Women's Weekly Art Prize, Portraits, Sydney

1959 Redcliffe Centenary Art Contest, Queensland

Centenary Year Royal National Agricultural Association Prize,

Queensland Caltex Centenary Art Competeition

1960 H.C. Richards Memorial Prize, Brisbane

1962 Royal National Agricultural Association Prize, Queensland

1963 The Sir John Sulman Prize for 1962, Sydney

Melrose Prize, Adelaide

1965 Finney's Art Prize, Brisbane (later became the David Jones Art Prize)

1968 David Jones Art Prize, Brisbane

Albury Art Prize, New South Wales

Naracoorte Acquisitive Exhibition, South AustralIa

1974 Gold Coast City Art Prize, Queensland

1994 Honorary doctorate, Griffith University, Queensland

2001 Honorary membership, Royal Queensland Art Society

2003 Companion, Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences

Also selected/or hanging in the Archibald (24), Wynne (23) andSulman (19) Prizes from 1953 to 1999, as well as being a finalist in five 0/ the biennial Doug Moran National Portrait Prize competitions from 1988 to 2004.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1954 The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

1956 The'Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

1958 Terry Clune Galleries, Sydney

The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

1961 The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane ~~~~

1963TheJohnstone GalleryBrisbane ~~

1964 The Macquarie Galleries, Sydney

Leveson Street Gallery, Mebourne .

1965 The Johnstone Gallery Bnsbane

1966 The.Macquarie Galleries Sydney

1967 DesIgn Arts Centre Bnsbane

1969 Leveson Street Gallery

1970 The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

1973 Young Australian Gallery, Brisbane

Reid Gallery, Brisbane

1974 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1976 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1978 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1984 The Broadbeach Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland

1985 Wagner Gallery, Sydney

Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1986 Wagner Gallery, Sydney

1988 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1989 Wagner Gallery, Sydney

1990 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1992 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

Wagner Gallery, Sydney

1993 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1994 Buderim House, Buderim, Queensland

1995 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

1997 Wagner Gallery, Sydney

1998 Verlie Just Town Gallery, Brisbane

2000 Wagner Gallery, Sydney

2004 Wagner Gallery, Sydney

2005 Art Gallery Collections, Gold Coast, Queensland

2006 Gallery G (July/August 2006), Brisbane

(Note: In 2004, a major survey of portraits by John Rigby was mounted by the Museum of Brisbane, City Hall.)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Showed in many exhibitions of Brisbane's Half Dozen Group of Artists and the

Queensland Artists of Fame and Promise annual exhibitions during the 1950s.

Also exhibited in national touring exhibitions shown in state or regional galleries, e.g.

Australian Women's Weekly Art Prize, Archibald, Wynne, Sulman, Uncommon

Australians, and the Moran National Portrait Prizes.

1941 - 43 Royal Queensland Art Society Exhibition, Brisbane

1944 'Exhibition of Soldier Arts and Handicraft 1944', Australian Army

1949 Strath Art Exhibition, Sydney

1951 'The Strath Art Group', Marodian Gallery, Brisbane

1955 'Four Queensland Artists', The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

1961 ' A Group of Brisbane Painters', Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney;

'Australian Painting', Raymond Burr Galleries, Los Angeles, USA (works

selected by Kym Bonython)

1962 '14 Queensland Painters', The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane

1964 'Brisbane Artists', Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney

1965 Mixed show, Leveson Street Gallery, Melbourne

1966 Mixed show, Leveson Street Gallery, Melbourne

'Brisbane Painters', Rudy Koman Gallery, Sydney

1985 'Downs Artists', Downs Gallery, Toowoomba

1986 'John Rigby and Judith Laws', Downs Gallery and Arts Centre,

Toowoomba

'The Artists' Camp VI', Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern

Territory, Darwin

1995 'A Time Remembered', Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

1997 'Out of Queensland - Three Contemporary Painters', Wagner Gallery,

Hong Kong

1998 'Out of Australia', Liu Hai-Su Art Museum, Shanghai, P.R. China;

'Five Men and a Houseboat', Bruce Watling Galleries, Gold Coast, Qld

1999 'International Year of Older Persons Exhibition', Verlie Just Town

Gallery, Brisbane

2000 'Modem Masters of Australian Painting', Wagner Gallery, Sydney

2001 'Out of Australia', Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong

2002 'Australian Realist & Modem Painters', Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong