The Fryer Library at The University of Queensland has developed a major new online exhibition to pay tribute to one of Australia's most important sculptors, Daphne Mayo (1895–1982).
Ms Mayo is particularly known for the large monumental works she completed during the late 1920s and early 1930s in Brisbane.
Her work includes the Tympanum on the Brisbane City Hall and the Queensland Women’s War Memorial in Anzac Square.
A Significant Woman of Her Time acknowledges Ms Mayo's sculptural output and enduring commitment to Queensland art.
Arts Librarian Cassie Doyle curated the exhibition, which includes images of Ms Mayo’s work as well as the personal stories and photographs that provide an insight into the person behind the work.
“Mayo was a prominent artist and art advocate in Queensland and while many will recognise her sculptures, this was an opportunity to share more of Daphne’s life and reveal the person behind the work,” she said.
For Ms Doyle, working on the project was immensely satisfying.
“I felt like I got to know Daphne while I was working on the exhibition,” she said.
“I was moved particularly by the close relationships Daphne sustained with her parents, as reflected in the correspondence between them, and by the impact she had on people she met through her work.”
While Ms Mayo enjoyed the patronage of influential artists and sculptors such as Sir Bertram Mackennal and Sir John Longstaff, she also had the influential support of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Reverend Dr James Duhig.
“Duhig commissioned Mayo to do the Tympanum and the Stations of the Cross for the Church of the Holy Spirit, New Farm, which celebrates its 80th Anniversary this year,” Ms Doyle said.
The substantial project was made possible by the Daphne Mayo Collection, held in the Fryer Library.
It seems fitting that the collection is housed in a library located in the Duhig Building, named in honour of the sculptor’s great supporter.
The one hundred boxes of correspondence and other written records, as well as sculptures, artworks and photographs was bequeathed following Ms Mayo's death in 1982 and acquired in 1985, the year in which The University of Queensland celebrated its 75th anniversary.
Manager of the Fryer Library Mark Cryle said the bequest was a highly valued contribution to Fryer's collection.
“The online exhibition is a way to pay tribute to Mayo and her contribution to Queensland art and to share with scholars around the world some of the richness of the Daphne Mayo Collection,” Mr Cryle said.
Art historian and Daphne Mayo scholar Judith McKay was largely responsible for securing the collection for the library and has made it available to researchers, art historians, students and the community.
While researchers, such as 2009 Fryer Award recipient Dr Jane Hunt, have begun to study the collection, Ms Doyle believes there is much yet to be revealed about Mayo through in-depth studies of the prolific correspondence between the sculptor and those who knew her.
Ms Mayo left a lasting legacy in the Brisbane landscape and, in a year in which the University celebrates its Centenary, this exhibition is a timely tribute.
Media: Tanya Ziebell (07 3365 6315, t.ziebell@library.uq.edu.au)
