Ernest Higgins Rigg Art

Ernest Higgins Rigg was born in Bradford and studied at the Bradford School of Art and then at the Académie Julian in Paris. He moved to Sussex in 1908, but returned to Yorkshire after the first World War, living in Shipley in 1918 and Richmond in 1919. His brothers, Alfred and Arthur, were artists. His work, almost exclusively in oils, is very concerned with light. It often appears veritably to bounce off the surface of objects in his pictures, but he explores all aspects of the phenomenon. He enjoyed including children in his compositions and sometimes veered towards sentimentality. He was a founder member of the Staithes Art Club and a lively member of the social group of artists in and around the village. He was elected a Council Member of the Yorkshire Union of Artists in 1899. His work is exhibited at the public galleries in Bradford, Sheffield and Whitby. He exhibited at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, the Manchester Art Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Yorkshire Union of Artists.