Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s

253 Daphne Mayo, Olympian c.1946, cast after 1958 DAPHNE MAYO Sculptor Daphne Mayo made a significant contribution to art in Queensland through major civic projects, such as the tympanum for Brisbane City Hall, completed in 1930, and her unstinting advocacy for contemporary art. Despite having to leave school early because of chronic asthma, Mayo pursued her career as an artist single-mindedly. She studied at Brisbane’s Central Technical College under R Godfrey Rivers and, more notably, attended the modelling classes of influential woodcarver and ceramicist L J Harvey. In 1914, Mayo won the inaugural Queensland Wattle Day League’s travelling art scholarship but was unable to accept the bursary until after World War One. She spent the intervening years studying at Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney, and learned stone carving with the Ipswich-based mason Frank Williams. 1 Having travelled to London in 1919, Mayo enrolled in the School of Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts, where she excelled. On graduating in 1923, she was awarded the Academy’s gold medal for sculpture, an honour that included a scholarship to Italy. 2 Returning triumphantly to Brisbane in 1925, Mayo was lauded for her achievements, winning a succession of major commissions, including for the Queensland Women’s War Memorial in Anzac Square (1929–32). Olympian c.1946, cast after 1958, eloquently represents Mayo’s capacity as a sculptor and her awareness of international trends. She sculpted the figure during the years she lived in Sydney after returning from her second trip to Europe (1937–39). While overseas, she was impressed by the monumental female nudes of French sculptors Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) and Charles Despiau (1874–1946) who looked to antiquity for inspiration. 3 The truncated limbs of Mayo’s compelling figure suggest similar influences. Notes 1 Judith McKay, ‘Lilian Daphne Mayo (1895–1982)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography , 2012, <https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mayo-lilian-daphne-14954 >, viewed December 2024. 2 Judith McKay, ‘A monumental career’, in Michael Hawker & Judith McKay, Daphne Mayo: Let There Be Sculpture , Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2011, p.19. 3 McKay, ‘A monumental career’, pp.22–3.