Draft:Mary Millicent Wigg
| Submission declined on 6 March 2025 by Spinster300 (talk). This submission reads more like an essay than an encyclopedia article. Submissions should summarise information in secondary, reliable sources and not contain opinions or original research. Please write about the topic from a neutral point of view in an encyclopedic manner.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
|  |
Comment: Please rewrite the article, preferably in WP:PYRAMID style that highlights what makes the subject most notable and suitable for inclusion. Kind regards, Spinster300 (talk) 09:33, 6 March 2025 (UTC).
Mary Millicent Wigg (nee Lamphee; 8 October 1904 - 29 April 2001) was an Australian oil painter, best known for her works depicting scenes from the South Australian Landscape and beyond. Active for over seven decades, she was a member of the South Australian Society of Arts and exhibited in Adelaide galleries from the 1960s onward. Wigg’s work featured in the 1964 Adelaide Festival of arts, and her work continues to be collected and exhibited posthumously, including by the Fairview Art Collection[1]. Dedicated to her practice throughout her life, Wigg died aged 96 in a car accident while returning from a painting trip to the Flinders Ranges.[2]
Personal life
[edit]Mary Millicent Wigg was born on October 8, 1904, in Kensington Park, South Australia, to Phillip and Clara (nee Dunstan) Lamphee.[3]
Wigg attended Girton Girls School Adelaide and the Elder Conservatorium of Music. She played the viola in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and was strongly supported by industrial engineer and art collector, John William Calvert Murrell.[4]
She was mentored by South Australian painter Ingrid Erns.[5]
On June 20, 1931, Wigg was married to engineer and pilot Ronald Wigg, with whom she had three children.[1]
Wigg died on April 29, 2001, aged 96, as a result of a car accident whilst returning from a painting trip to the Flinders Ranges.[2]
Family
[edit]Wigg married engineer and pilot Ronald Wigg, the grandson of the founder of E. S. Wigg & Son.[1] They had three children together; Helen, Hugh, and Phillip. She illustrated the 1992 book E.S. Wigg and his Successors[6], which detailed the history of the Wigg family.
Artistic career
[edit]Wigg was an active artist from the 1930s and was painting up until her death in 2001 and is known for her Australian landscape paintings done with oils on board and masonite. She was a member of the South Australian Society of Arts from 1959 to 1970.[7]
She exhibited at the Society of Arts Gallery Institute Building in North Terrace, Adelaide, in 1961 and 1963, and at the Walkerville Gallery in 1963 and 1967. Her work was also displayed during the Adelaide Festival of Arts Exhibition of Australian Art in 1964.[8]
The book E.S. Wigg and his Successors features an oil painting of Wigg’s on the cover depicting the original farm of Edgar Smith in the United Kingdom. Mary painted A Tidal Mill, built c. 1100 A.D., which was at Woodbridge, Suffolk on E.S. Wigg’s original farm and the book contains other artworks and illustrations of hers. [6]
Exhibitions
[edit]She exhibited The Loft - Paradise on May 2, 1961 and King's Cross on 7 May 1963 held at the Society of Arts Gallery, Institute Building in North Terrace, Adelaide opened by South Australian artist, writer and author, Allan Sierp on May 7, 1963.[9]
On September 1963 at the Walkerville Gallery, her exhibition was opened by distinguished Australian surgeon Sir Henry Newland where her oil works featured two Sydney Street scenes Kings Cross and Old houses, Pyrmont which art critics described as being drawn with assurance and clarity.[10] Other exhibitions followed in the Adelaide Festival of Arts - exhibition of Australian art, March 6-21, 1964.[11]
There was a second exhibition at the Walkerville Gallery in 1967 where reviewers described her impressions as rather tight and air-less, painstakingly accurate, and becoming almost primitive in a piece titled South Kensington.[12] On 24 May 1972 she held another Exhibition of Paintings with Jessamy Bruce opened by gender equality activist and educator, Mrs Diana Medlin at the Miller Anderson Art Gallery in Adelaide.[13]
In 2024, Wigg’s paintings were displayed alongside many artworks from the Fairview Art Collection at the Australian Heritage Festival[14] and the Inaugural Perth Art Weekend.[15]
Collections
[edit]Since Wigg's death, her paintings have continued being sold at auctions and acquired by collectors.
One of Wigg's supporters and collectors was William John Calvert Murrell, who lived next door to Wigg at Frederick Street, Gilberton in Adelaide[16]. William acquired several paintings from Wigg, including the first nude painting she had made of herself.[16]
William John Calvert Murrell's collection started the Fairview Art Collection, which has six[1] of Mary Wigg's artwork in its collection. In 2023, Wigg's artwork was showcased in a presentation by art collector Thomas Murrell at an author talk at the Walkerville town hall[17], attended by her daughter and son.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Nudes". Fairview Historic Home. 2022-03-28. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ a b "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
- ^ Murrell, Thomas (2021). The Fairview Art Collection. Subiaco East, WA: 8M Media and Communications. p. 21. ISBN 9781876968045.
- ^ "Obituary: Car man's valiant feat". West Australian Newspaper. 2021-01-14. p. 61.
- ^ "Mary Millicent Wigg". Design and Art Australia Online.
- ^ a b E. S. Wigg and his successors. [s.n.] Adelaide. 1992. p. 6.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Royal S.A. Society for The Arts Incorporated, Report for the Year 1959-1960": 24.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Fairview Art Collection". 28 March 2022.
- ^ Royal South Australian Society of Arts, Associates' and Lay Members' Exhibition May 7 - May 17th 1963, Exhibition Catalogue May 7 - May 17th 1963.
- ^ The Advertiser, 24th September 1963, page 18, col. e
- ^ Exhibition Catalogue, Restaurant Gallery, Cox-Foys, Adelaide
- ^ The Advertiser, 3rd November 1967, page 40, col. e.
- ^ Miller Anderson Art Gallery Exhibition Catalogue May 24 – June 3 1972
- ^ "Australian Heritage Festival". 16 April 2024.
- ^ https://thewest.com.au/travel/art-wa-the-world-c-15472478
- ^ a b Murrell, Bill (2 June 2023). To Thyself Be True. Oldbury, Western Australia: Linellen Press. pp. 245–257. ISBN 9781922727633.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "Author Talk - Thomas Murrell". Walkerville Council. 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2025-02-14.