Encyclopedia

The Hall of Memory mosaic

The Australian War Memorial Board resolved in 1937 to commemorate the sacrifices made by Australians in the First World War by commissioning sculpture, stained-glass windows and mosaic to complete the Hall of Memory. Napier Waller was invited to submit designs for the stained-glass windows and mosaic.

Waller was selected to design and install the mosaic on the basis of his reputation as a large scale mural artist and mosaicist, and it was considered important that he had served in the First World War.

The commemorative nature of the Hall of Memory commission, its monumental scale, and significance in contemporary Australian life must all have held great appeal for Waller. The Hall of Memory, was to be a place accessible to all Australians. It was hoped that it would have the atmosphere of a cathedral in which people could quietly contemplate the spirit of sacrifice of those Australians who had lost their lives in the First World War.

The idea of creating a mosaic rather than a painted mural was suggested by the domed Byzantine cruciform plan of the proposed Hall of Memory building.

In December 1946, the Art Committee decided to retain the original concept for the windows wherin they commemorated the First World War. The pendentives would instead commemorate the Second World War, focusing on the army, navy, airforce and women's services. However work on these did not recommence until the windows had been completed in 1951.

In March 1952 Waller was asked to prepare drawings for the Hall of Memory pendentives. Waller felt that to balance the light admitted by the deep blue windows, the plain mosaic walls should be treated in light tones. The figures would be depicted with strong tonal contrasts, interwoven with the surrounding plain walls.

The figures in these drawings emphasise qualities of strength and endurance. Their poses are frontal and all except the sailor has their left foot extended forward in the manner of an archaic Greek course. The enlarged, intense eyes were also characteristic of ancient Greek sculpture, and the mosaics of Ravenna which Waller had visited in the late 1920's. In contrast the uniforms and hairstyles are contemporary. The faces express their feelings. The figures are those ordinary men, elevated simultaneously to demi god status by their monumentality and references to antiquity.

Waller combines naturalism, abstraction and symbolism in his final designs for the pendentives. The quality of his drawing, his balanced compositions and his use of light helped to unify these varied approaches. The drawings are worked in gouache, chalk and pencil over charcoal, the gouache and brush used to apply small spots of paint, suggesting the effect of mosaic. Each of the designs appears at first to be almost monochromatic. However a restrained and elegant use of colour adds to the vitality of the works and reinforces Waller's drawing.

The emphasis of the Hall is vertical and the designs for pendentives reinforce this. The positioning on the mosaic figures in the Hall of Memory makes it necessary for the viewer to look up to see them, while the eyes of the figures are raised, encouraging us to follow their gaze up into the dome.

The theme of the dome ornamentation is the ascent of the spirits of the fallen. Our attention is directed to its splendid abstract symbolism wherein we may contemplate sacrifice of the dead.

Waller suggested several alternatives for the dome, including a design based on the rising sun. Inspired by the emblem for the 1st AIF he placed two rising suns base to base to make shafts of light radiate from the centre of the dome to the cornice at its base.

The rays of light reduced in number to symbolise the seven states of Australia. They emanate from a central spiritual sun to the cornice. The stars of the Southern Cross are superimposed over the sun.

From the base of the dome, stylised hands deliver the souls of the dead through clouds and blue sky to Heaven. The spirits are symbolised by simplified winged coffins, in shapes reminiscent of Egyptian mummies. The geometric symmetry of the dome design recalls Waller's earlier interest in Art Deco. The blue and gold colour scheme repeats the colours of the windows and was devised after Waller had settled on the light tone walls.

On the uppermost member of the cornice a classical wreath emphasises that the Hall of Memory is a memorial to the fallen. A flight of black swans symbolises the air, and beneath them are bands of stylised waterlilies and bullrushes.

Waller's involvement in the project spanned twenty-one years. The Hall of Memory was his largest public work and remains his most physically accessible. He created a work of art of its time, but not fixed in it, successfully uniting his interest in contemporary issues, ancient Greek and Byzantine traditions and twentieth century style.

Source

Taken from Collection Notes (1989) accompanying the art exhibition 'Art in Action'.