James Vandeleur Wigley Australia, 1917-99
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by James Wigley
Auction Houses
About James Wigley
Born in Adelaide in 1917, James Wigley studied in the United Kingdom and Europe from 1948-1952. A. fine natural draughtsman, his early assignment as official artist to the Elkins anthropological expedition into Central Australia gave him a taste for the primitive nomadic life of NW Australia and in 1957 he settled in Port Hedland, WA. His work received little attention until 1959 when his exhibition at the Australian Galleries, Melbourne sold out in a few days.
James Wigley is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1967 of 421, of which 273 (65%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $12,000 for Dance at the Grey Eagle sold by Leonard Joel in April 1989. This year one work has been offered for sale. Works by James Wigley are held by the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia and a further five major public national galleries (see list below).
James Wigley is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 1024
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 728
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 381
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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