KILGOUR, JACK NOEL (1900-1987)

**ON HOLD - EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST**
 
"Reclining Nude (Nancy Kilgour)" (c.1947)
oil on board
34.5 x 45cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Jack Noel Kilgour was a respected Australian Modernist. He studied at the Sydney Art School where he met fellow art student Nancy Davidson. The couple married in 1931 and travelled by sea to England. In London, Kilgour, with Sir William Dobell and Frederick H Coventry became the centre of a group of expatriate Australian artists. Jack and Nancy returned to Sydney in 1939 and Jack began teaching at East Sydney Technical College. Tragically, Nancy died prematurely in 1954, and for the rest of his life, Jack actively promoted her work, and is responsible for getting a number of her works into institutions. Jack died in Sydney in 1987 and through a bequest, established the Kilgour Prize of $50,000, awarded annually by Newcastle Art Gallery. His works are well represented in the Newcastle Art Gallery collection, as well as in other significant state and national collections as Art Gallery of New South Wales and National Gallery of Australia.