Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Rayner Hoff: The life of a sculptor by Deborah Beck

by
November 2017, no. 396

Rayner Hoff: The life of a sculptor by Deborah Beck

NewSouth, $49.99 pb, 280 pp, 9781742235325

Rayner Hoff: The life of a sculptor by Deborah Beck

by
November 2017, no. 396

Rayner Hoff, the most significant sculptor to work in Australia between the wars, is most admired for his sculptures in the Anzac war memorials in Sydney and Adelaide. His work was in the classical figurative tradition in which he had trained. While never part of the international avant-garde, he remained modern for his era and adapted to the idiom of art deco. Hoff’s work is known to all Australians through a logo depicting a lion with its paw on a ball, which he designed for Holden in Adelaide in 1927. While his name may be unfamiliar to many people, the Holden lion mascot, instantly recognisable even in its modified form, is still in use today. Now ninety, the Holden insignia is one of the great examples of Australian logo branding; at a time when so many cars are indistinguishable, the mascot is still the easiest way to identify a Holden.

Christopher Menz reviews 'Rayner Hoff: The life of a sculptor' by Deborah Beck

Rayner Hoff: The life of a sculptor

by Deborah Beck

NewSouth, $49.99 pb, 280 pp, 9781742235325

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.