Rayner Hoff ( November 27, 1894 - November 19, 1937)

Biography

Born on the Isle of Man, Hoff was the son of a stone and wood carver. He began helping his father on architectural commissions at a very young age and briefly attended the Nottingham School of Art. During World War I he was in the British army and fought in France, an experience from which he was to draw most passionately in the creation of his various war memorials.

Returning from the trenches following the War he enrolled in the Royal College of Art in London.

In 1922 Hoff won the Prix de Rome which allowed him the opportunity to study in Rome for the year.

He immigrated to Australia in 1923 where he became the Head Teacher for Sculpture and Modeling at East Sydney Technical College and set up his private studio. In 1933 he was named the head of the ESTC Art School

His premature death in 1937 at the age of 43 robbed the world of a fine artist and educator.

His modeling is in a lyrical, classical art-deco manner in which he facilely combines sensuous curves with geometric line patterns.

Architectural Sculpture

• Medallions for various University of Sydney buildings 1924
• Royal Arch Masonic Temple, Sydney, Australia 1927
• The Spirit of Womanhood, National War Memorial, Adelaide, Australia 1927-30
• South Australian War Memorial 1929  ???
• figures and panels, ANZAC War Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney Australia 1931-34
• Theatre Arts & Pan Liberty Theatre, Sidney, Australia 1934
• Ride of the Valkyries relief panel, Hotel Manly, Manly, Australia 1935
• Panels, Hotel Sydney, Sydney, Australia 1935
• relief panels, City Mutual Life Insurance build, Sydney, Australia 1936
• Mercury, Transportation House, Sydney, Australia 1938

Other Works

• panels, War memorial, Dubbo, New South Wales
• Sacrifice, figure inside Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney Australia 1934
• King George V Memorial, Canberra, Australia 1937-53 – designed by Hoff and finished by John Moorefield following Hoff death.

Sources

• Daele, Patrick and Roy Lumby, A Spirit of Progress: Art Deco Architecture in Australia, Craftsman House Sydney 1997
• Edwards, Deborah, This Vital Flesh: The Sculpture of Rayner Hoff and His School, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1999
• Hedger, Michael, Public Sculpture in Australia, Craftsman House, 1995
• Inglis, K.S., Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, Melbourne University Press, Carlton South 1998
• Sturgeon, Graeme, The Development of Australian Sculpture 1788 – 1975, Thames & Hudson, London 1978