15 Facts About Rayner Hoff

George Rayner Hoff was a British-born sculptor who mainly worked in Australia.

Rayner Hoff fought in World War I and is chiefly known for his war memorial work, particularly the sculptures on the Anzac War Memorial in Sydney.

Rayner Hoff began helping his father on architectural commissions at a very young age and attended the Nottingham School of Art where he studied drawing, design, and modelling, from 1910 to 1915.

In 1922, Rayner Hoff won the British Prix de Rome which allowed him the opportunity to study in Rome.

Rayner Hoff soon adapted himself to Australian conditions, and his quiet, slightly whimsical personality made him generally liked.

Rayner Hoff was a quick worker and an artist of great originality, although his work, originally based on the Greeks, shows he had paid attention to tradition.

Rayner Hoff had studied much that was best in Italian work of the Renaissance, the Assyrian friezes, the attempt to retain only the essentials, characteristic of some of the moderns, and the simple sincerity of the Chinese.

Rayner Hoff's modelling is in a lyrical, classical art-deco manner which effortlessly combines sensuous curves with geometric line patterns.

Rayner Hoff's coming to Sydney was a great gain to Australia.

Rayner Hoff speedily reorganized the school and succeeded in winning the enthusiasm of the students.

Rayner Hoff became a member of the Society of Artists and later the Sculptors' Society of Australia, and submitted work to their exhibitions and competitions.

Rayner Hoff produced a variety of smaller work, built up a fine school of sculpture, and in 1934 was commissioned to design the Victorian centenary medal.

Rayner Hoff had recently been commissioned to design part of the new coinage for the Commonwealth, and earlier in 1937 had become an invited foundation member of Robert Menzies' anti-modernist organisation, the Australian Academy of Art.

The Anzac War Memorial, completed in 1934, is the main commemorative military monument in Sydney, designed by C Bruce Dellit, has an exterior adorned with monumental figural reliefs and sculptures by Rayner Hoff, and is arguably the finest Art Deco structure in Australia.

Rayner Hoff died on 19 November 1937, eight days before his 43rd birthday, and was survived by his wife and two daughters.