Selected Media Coverage Extracts
DUNLOP ART SHOWINGS
Dr. Gertrude Langer
The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, 5 April 1954
John Rigby, from promising beginnings, has developed into a fine artist
with that characteristic manner of expression which one calls “style”
and I feel sure he soon will win wider recognition.
14 QUEENSLAND PAINTERS
Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane.
J.V. Duhig
Art, “The Bulletin”, 18 August 1962
John Rigby’s “Falling Night” is for me the picture of the show, a trailing mob of cattle going to
water at sunset. It is a little vague and abstract in treatment generally but the atmosphere and
sky are treated in high tones done in a series of small rectangles which gives the whole surface a
very lively appearance; an enchanting picture.
ART NOTES
Bernard Smith
The Age, Melbourne, 9 September 1964
His art is for the most part joyous and frank, figurative painting full of air, light and colour.
It reminds one of Philips Fox, though the idiom is contemporary.
NEW ART SHOWS
James Gleeson
The Sun, Sydney, 7 September 1966
John Rigby’s paintings at the Macquarie Galleries could hardly be more saturated with colour,
yet there is enough discipline in their ordering to satisfy the eye without overloading it.
Whatever the subjects of his paintings might be,
his real purpose as an artist is the worship of colour.
CONVEYING THE NORTHERN WARMTH
Gay Richardson
The Australian, 22 March 1986
It would be hard to find a more vibrant painter than Queensland’s John Rigby. Seeing his work
leaves you with a happy feeling – landscapes alive with sparkling light and vivid colours and
pictures of women in decorative settings that are equally as colourful.
CAVALCADE OF PEOPLE, PLACES AND FANTASY
Sue Smith
The Courier-Mail, 15 October 1993
As always, Rigby’s latest pictures depict an everchanging cavalcade of people, places and
fantasy, drenched in the scintillating post impressionist inspired reds, pinks, greens and mauves
the Pinjarra Hills based artist loves.
SEE RIGBY – IT’S WELL WORTH THE TRIP
John Millington
The Gold Coast Weekend Herald, 16-17 October 1993
Master Queensland painter John Rigby,
to many this state’s most senior and most celebrated artist . . .
Rigby has always, better than any other artist, living or dead, encapsulated the
“Queenslandness,” the tropicality and the different pacedness of this much blessed state.
Rigby is essentially a colourist, one of the best. Come to think of it, given Australia’s lifestyle,
climate and light, we have remarkably few genuine colourists.
COLOURUL CHARACTER CAPTURED STATE
Des Houghton
The Courier-Mail, 27 October 2012
Master Queensland painter John Rigby, whose lush pictures have delighted Australians
for half a century, died last week just short of his 90th birthday.
Few artists manage to capture the tropical grandeur and “Queenslandness” of this great state. Rigby did.
As well as landscapes drenched with colour, Rigby created lively portraits of Queenslanders
as diverse as actress Babette Stephens, likeable crook Russ Hinze and basketballer “Leapin” Leroy Loggins…
ENDURING IMPRESSION ON ART
Greg de Silva
The Courier-Mail, 14 November 2012
Queensland artist John Rigby was, more than any other post-war artist,
the greatest influence on generations of Brisbane artists and students…
A COLOURFUL ADVENTURER
Greg de Silva
The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 November 2012
John Rigby’s paintings were bold, colourful impressions
full of light and life as seen through the eyes of a sensitive artist.
He regarded himself as a mere speck of sand on a very large beach in the art world
but the art world would not have been as rich if that speck of sand had not existed…
