Daphne Mayo’s legacy to QAGOMA
By Judith McKay
‘Let There Be Sculpture’ November 2011
Daphne Mayo was not only an outstanding artist, she was also a formidable advocate for the visual arts.
In 1929, together with her friend the painter Vida Lahey, she founded the Queensland Art Fund, the main purpose of which was to acquire international works of art for public collections in Queensland. In 1932, Mayo also helped to set up the Godfrey Rivers Trust, the Gallery’s first substantial endowment, established in memory of her former art teacher, to acquire both Australian and European works. As a key player and purchaser for both these bodies until the 1960s, Mayo transformed the Gallery’s Collection with many fine examples of contemporary art, some of which were daringly modern for their time. During her involvement, the Fund and the Trust gave a total of 98 works to the Queensland Art Gallery.
Mayo also raised funds for the Gallery. In 1934–35, as the Queensland Art Fund’s honorary secretary, she led a public appeal to secure the Darnell Bequest, requiring her to suspend her sculptural work for almost a year. In June 1930, John Darnell, a wealthy Brisbane businessman, died leaving £10 000 to art in Queensland, on the condition it be matched by the public within five years, a seemingly impossible task during the Great Depression. The goal was reached just a day before the deadline, and Queensland gained its richest art bequest, of which £15 000 came to the Gallery.
In her purchases for the Godfrey Rivers Trust, Mayo deliberately sought out works that demonstrated ‘a forward sense of values . . . deemed to give stimulation at the time and have prospective value in the future’. Explore the works below to follow the Daphne Mayo Trail around the Collection.
![Artwork Perseus arming this artwork made of Bronze, created in 1877-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/1-0208_001_7.jpg?itok=yxNiTtYQ)
Perseus arming c.1882
- GILBERT, Alfred - Creator
![QAGOMA Artwork Interior this artwork made of Oil on composition board, created in 1958-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/1-0750_002_5.jpg?itok=oh0wbr8k)
Interior 1958
- SMITH, Grace Cossington - Creator
![Artwork has not been digitised or not available due to pending copyright clearence, thus not currently available online](/sites/default/files/styles/large/filesqagoma/assets/image-pending.jpg?itok=SDhxQrcw)
Still life and interior 1959
- PROCTOR, Thea - Creator
Alfred Gilbert’s Perseus arming c.1882 was selected in London by Herbert Dicksee, a noted animal painter and friend of the Rivers family, who acted as overseas purchaser for the Godfrey Rivers Trust. Daphne Mayo later represented the Trust when the work was officially handed over to the Gallery in December 1936.
Interior 1958 was the Gallery’s first acquisition of a work by Grace Cossington Smith, while Thea Proctor’s Still life and interior 1959 was purchased by Mayo from Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, in November 1966, soon after Proctor’s death. It was the last of Mayo’s purchases for the Godfrey Rivers Trust.
![The artist Artwork Diatropic this artwork made of Metal, created in 1950-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/1-0895_001_4.jpg?itok=n-y1EMH-)
Diatropic c.1950-62
- HINDER, Margel - Creator
![© Ola Cohn Estate Artwork Polar bear this artwork made of Sandstone, created in 1937-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/2024-04/1-0303_001.jpg?itok=XWLUN8iH)
Polar bear c.1942
- COHN, Ola - Creator
In her purchases for the Godfrey Rivers Trust, Mayo supported fellow women sculptors. She acquired works by her friends Margel Hinder and Polar bear by Ola Cohn — Cohn’s Polar bear being the artist’s first work to be purchased by an Australian state gallery.
![Artwork has not been digitised or not available due to pending copyright clearence, thus not currently available online](/sites/default/files/styles/large/filesqagoma/assets/image-pending.jpg?itok=SDhxQrcw)
Flowers and fruit 1942
- FEINT, Adrian - Creator
![Margaret Preston/Copyright Agency Artwork Aboriginal still life this artwork made of Oil on canvas, created in 1940-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/1-0276_001_3.jpg?itok=SDDFwk7n)
Aboriginal still life 1940
- PRESTON, Margaret - Creator
Adrian Feint was well known to Mayo, being a fellow member of Sydney’s Society of Artists. In June 1940, Margaret Preston invited Daphne Mayo to her home, stating that she wanted to show her ‘an important work’, which may have been this one. Mayo greatly admired Preston’s work, purchasing an example for her own personal collection as well as for the Godfrey Rivers Trust.
![QAGOMA Artwork The Cypriot this artwork made of Oil on canvas, created in 1940-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/1-0326_002_3.jpg?itok=fSIiiwDf)
The Cypriot 1940
- DOBELL, William - Creator
![Artwork Stove theme this artwork made of Oil, paper, sand and collage on canvas, created in 1942-01-01](/system/files/styles/large/private/object-images/1-0427a_001_6.jpg?itok=xSwy6AkL)
Stove theme 1942
- WILSON, Eric - Creator
Mayo first saw William Dobell’s masterpiece, The Cypriot, in 1942, when she visited his King’s Cross studio. Deciding the work ‘would look well in our Gallery’, she later managed to secure it for 100 guineas; this was just prior to the 1943 Archibald Prize controversy, which propelled Dobell to fame and caused the prices of his work to rise accordingly.
Eric Wilson’s Stove theme represents the Queensland Art Gallery’s first acquisition of an abstract painting, and was purchased from the artist Jean Appleton, soon after the death of her husband, Eric Wilson. A friend of Appleton’s, Mayo also negotiated the purchase of other paintings by Wilson for the Gallery.
Godfrey Miller’s Trees in moonlight was the Gallery’s second acquisition of an abstract painting, and it was purchased from the artist after it had been on loan to the Gallery for some time. Painted at the Domain, it depicts the central Sydney park before trees were cut down to make way for the existing parking station.
Mrs Selina Rivers, the benefactor of the Godfrey Rivers Trust, gifted An alien in Australia to the Gallery, together with other paintings by her late husband. She also gifted a portrait bust of the artist by Daphne Mayo.
![Artwork has not been digitised or not available due to pending copyright clearence, thus not currently available online](/sites/default/files/styles/large/filesqagoma/assets/image-pending.jpg?itok=SDhxQrcw)
Una c.1929
- BROCKHURST, Gerald - Creator
![Artwork has not been digitised or not available due to pending copyright clearence, thus not currently available online](/sites/default/files/styles/large/filesqagoma/assets/image-pending.jpg?itok=SDhxQrcw)
Girl's head 1921
- KENNINGTON, Eric - Creator
These two works by major British artists are among the Queensland Art Fund’s many gifts to the Gallery. Co-founded by Daphne Mayo in 1929, the Fund was established to acquire international works of art for public collections in Queensland. Its gifts were sourced in England with the help of its purchasing agent, the National Art Collections Fund. Before the local Fund eventually disbanded in 1950, it gave the Gallery a total of 27 works — in Mayo’s words, examples of the ‘sound craftsmanship’ then fashionable in London.
MAYO, Daphne
1895
- 1982
Full profile for MAYO, Daphne
LAHEY, Vida
1882
- 1968
Full profile for LAHEY, Vida
Digital story context and navigation
Explore the story
![Daphne Mayo’s Susannah (detail) 1946, cast 1995 photographed for ‘Let There Be Sculpture’, QAG, January 2012 / © Surf Lifesaving Foundation and The United Church in Australia Property Trust (Q.) / Photograph: R Fulton, QAGOMA](/system/files/styles/large/private/2024-07/1995.131_002_detail.jpg?itok=21WQIZVR)
‘Daphne Mayo: Let There Be Sculpture’
Nov 2011 - Jan 2012
![Works by Daphne Mayo on display in Gallery 14, QAG, January 2012 / © Surf Lifesaving Foundation and The United Church in Australia Property Trust (Q.) / Photograph: R Fulton, QAGOMA Bronze statues installed on plinths in a gallery space with sage green walls](/system/files/styles/large/private/2024-07/QAG_DaphneMayo_20120102_rfulton_060.jpg?itok=ZDcRdCf5)
Daphne Mayo: A world of statues
Read ESSAY![Works by Daphne Mayo on display in Gallery 14, QAG, January 2012 / © Surf Lifesaving Foundation and The United Church in Australia Property Trust (Q.) / Photograph: R Fulton, QAGOMA](/system/files/styles/large/private/2024-07/QAG_DaphneMayo_20120102_rfulton_059.jpg?itok=m37CuqyJ)
Daphne Mayo: A monumental career
Read DIDACTIC![Ola Cohn / Australia VIC 1892 - 1964 / Polar bear c.1942 / Sandstone / 53.5 x 28 x 27 cm / Gift of the Godfrey Rivers Trust through Miss Daphne Mayo 1942 / Accession No: 1:0303 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Ola Cohn Estate A sandstone sculpture of a bear standing up and looking over its shoulder](/system/files/styles/large/private/2024-07/1-0303_003.jpg?itok=0aWGl-HA)