James McLachlan Nairn Scotland, New Zealand, 1859-1904
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About James McLachlan Nairn
Born in Scotland in 1859, James Nairn studied in Glasgow and at L'Academie Julian in Paris. In 1890, because of ill health, he emigrated to New Zealand. The first impressionist artist to arrive in New Zealand, Nairn taught at the Wellington School of Design. He first exhibited with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, but critical of its administration, in 1892 he formed a breakaway group called the Wellington Art Club who held their own exhibitions. Nairn did eventually rejoin and exhibit with the Academy. In 1894 he rented 'Pumpkin Cottage' at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley, and this cottage became a gathering place for artists. James Nairn died in 1904.
The earliest auction listing we have for James Nairn is in 1974 and in total 116 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 95 (82%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $23,833 for Country Road with Woodgatherer sold by Webb's in April 2001. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by James Nairn are held by the Museum Of New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery and a further two major public national galleries (see list below).
James McLachlan Nairn is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- Gil Docking, with additions by Michael Gunn covering 1970-90. Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, David Bateman Ltd., New Zealand, 1990 Page 76
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 180
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
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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