Rayner Hoff / Australia 1894–1937 / Hercules, Achelous and Deianeira 1920 / Plaster / 93 x 58cm (framed) / Gift of Philip Bacon, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: QAGOMA

Rayner Hoff
Hercules, Achelous and Deianeira 1920

On Display: QAG, Gallery 11

Rayner Hoff’s Hercules, Achelous and Deianeira, executed in England, draws on a repertoire of classically inspired subjects and stylistic devices common at the Royal College of Art, London where he was a student under F. Derwent Wood (1871–1926).

Rayner Hoff, an English immigrant who arrived in Australia in 1923, soon became the most successful public sculptor in Australia. He dominated Australian sculptural production until World War One.

Assisted by his students, he was responsible for the major sculptural commissions of the interwar decades, including the culminating project of his career: the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney.

Discussion Questions

This relief sculpture illustrates an ancient myth. Looking at the figures’ positions and gestures, explain what you think has just happened in the story and what might be about to happen.

Classroom Activities

1. Find a copy of the story of Hercules, Achelous and Deianeira and see if you can identify the section that Hoff has illustrated.

2. Illustrate a scene from your favourite story in a slab of wet clay, carving away background areas and building up the figures to create your own relief sculpture. Alternatively, create the relief by cutting the characters’ shapes out of cardboard and layering them on a background.