Mervyn Napier Waller CMG OBE (19 June 189330 March 1972) was a noted

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

ist,

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

ist and painter in

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

and other media. He is perhaps best known for the mosaics and stained glass for the Hall of Memory at the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, completed in 1958. However,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

has been described as "a gallery of Napier Waller’s work", as eleven monumental murals by Waller are on display in the central business district and at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

’s main campus. The

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says his work "was strongly influenced by

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

and late-nineteenth century British painters; his monumental works show an increasingly classical and calmly formal style, using timeless and heroic figure compositions to express ideas and ideals, sometimes with

theosophical Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

overtones".

Biography

Napier Waller was born in

Penshurst, Victoria Penshurst is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is in the Shire of Southern Grampians local government area and is located at the foot of Mount Rouse, an extinct volcano. At the , Penshurst had a population of 461. Basic facilities include a hosp ...

in 1893. His parents were native-born: William Waller, a contractor, and Sarah née Napier. He studied at the National Gallery schools in Melbourne, and exhibited paintings and drawings in 1915. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force that year, and soon after married Christian Yandell, a fellow art student. He served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

from 1916, being so seriously wounded at Bullecourt that he lost his right arm. He was right-handed but learned to use his left hand while recuperating. Back in Australia, he established his reputation by exhibiting more paintings. In 1923 he exhibited a series of

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

s, being the first to make and exhibit linocuts in Australia. His first mural design failed to win a competition in 1921. His first major mural was for the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne, in 1927. In 1927 he completed murals at the

Melbourne Town Hall Melbourne Town Hall is the central city town hall of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is a historic building in the state of Victoria since 1867. Located in the central business district on the northeast corner of the intersection between ...

. The

State Library of Victoria State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the ...

accepted his mural ''Peace After Victory'' in 1928. He studied mosaics in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in 1929. On his return, he worked almost exclusively in mosaic and stained glass. His major pieces during the 1930s were a monumental mosaic for the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, and mosaics and murals for Newspaper House (1933) and the dining hall in the Myer Emporium (1935). He became senior art teacher in the Applied Art School of the Working Men's College, Melbourne (now the

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

). His students there included

Loudon Sainthill Loudon Sainthill (9 January 191810 June 1969) was an Australian artist and stage and costume designer. He worked predominantly in the United Kingdom, where he died. His early designs were described as 'opulent', 'sumptuous' and 'exuberantly spl ...

. He took no major commissions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but worked mainly as an illustrator. He designed and completed the mosaics and stained glass for the Hall of Memory at the

, completed in 1958. Earlier that year he remarried, to Lorna Reyburn, a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born artist and his assistant. Those who knew Waller described him as a modest, self-effacing man of considerable erudition which could be attributed to his love of literature. As a child he read

Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of '' Le Morte d' ...

and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

; during the Great War he read

James Macpherson James Macpherson (Gaelic: ''Seumas MacMhuirich'' or ''Seumas Mac a' Phearsain''; 27 October 1736 – 17 February 1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of epic poem ...

and in the 1920s he read

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

. He died in 1972, in Melbourne. External shots of his former house and studio in

are used as a backdrop to represent Dr Blake's house in the television series ''

The Doctor Blake Mysteries ''The Doctor Blake Mysteries'' (also ''The Blake Mysteries'') is an Australian television series that premiered on ABC TV on 1 February 2013 at 8:30 pm. The series stars Craig McLachlan in the lead role of Dr. Lucien Blake, who returns home to ...

''.

Honours

Napier Waller was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1953 and a Companion (CMG) of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1959.

Major works

* linocut ''The Man in Black'' (1926; a self-portrait, showing him with both arms intact) * mural for the Menzies Hotel,

(1927; the building was demolished in 1969, and the mural was sold privately) * murals at the

(1927) * mural ''Peace After Victory'',

(1928) * stained glass window, south window, Wilson Hall, Melbourne University (1928; destroyed in the Wilson Hall fire of 1952) * mural ''Better Than to Squander Life’s Gifts is to Conserve Them and Ensure a Fearless Future'', T&G Life Building, Collins and Russell Sts, Melbourne (1928) * mosaic ''The Five Lamps of Knowledge'', Great Gate, Winthrop Hall, University of Western Australia (1931) * mosaic ''I’ll Put a Girdle Around the Earth'', Newspaper House, Collins St, Melbourne (1933) * murals at the Florentino Restaurant, Bourke St, Melbourne (now Grossi Restaurant) (1934); executed by four of his students under his supervision. * stained glass window, Wesley Church, Lonsdale St, Melbourne (1935) * stained glass window, Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne (1935; hall gutted by fire 1952, then demolished, but the window survived, and is now the Leckie Window in foyer of the

Ian Potter Museum of Art The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1972. It houses the art collection of the University of Melbourne. Current director, Kelly Gellatly, was appointed in 2013. It is not to be con ...

) * mural ''Females Through the Ages'' for the dining hall in the Myer Emporium, Bourke St, Melbourne (1935) * stained glass window, Orchid Window, Botany School, University of Melbourne (1937) * stained glass window, St Mark's Anglican Church, Camberwell (1955) * mural ''Australian Symbolic Figures'', Royal Insurance Co, Collins St, Melbourne (1940; the building was demolished in 1969 and the mural was donated to the Architecture School at the University of Melbourne, where it is on display in the architecture library) * mosaics and stained glass for the Hall of Memory at the

(1958) * three stained glass windows for

The Armidale School , motto_translation = Without God, Nothing , location = Armidale, New England Tablelands, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia New ...

War Memorial Assembly Hall, Armidale NSW (1960) * mural "Pioneer Chapel Memorial", St Andrew's Church, Brighton, Melbourne (1962) * mural ''The Eight Aboriginal Tribal Headmen'' (1963; Temple Court foyer, Collins St, Melbourne, feared lost when an arcade put through in c1990, however, during renovations of a front shop in 2003 it was rediscovered, and reported to be displayed once more, but a new wall built in front instead) * mosaic ''Prometheus'' (1967, Monash House foyer, William St, Melbourne, recently restored) * portrait in oils of his friend and near-neighbour

Norman Macgeorge Norman Macgeorge (8 July 1872 – 2 September 1952) was an artist and art critic in the colony and State of Victoria. History Norman Macgeorge, artist and collector, was a son of Rachel Elizabeth Macgeorge, née Luxmoore and Alexander Macgeorge, ...

held by University of Melbourne

Notes

References

Mural may see the light after 21 years in darkness

The Man in Black

* ttp://www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au/art_high.aspx?view=36 Napier Waller’s Leckie Window

Biography

Honours

Major works

Notes

References

Other reading