Home Hill possesses an impressive Modernist mosaic panel that was a ‘study’ for George Davis’s mosaic for the 1961 ABC building in Hobart. Davis presented the panel to Dame Enid Lyons after she opened the building in her capacity as a commissioner for the ABC.
Tasmanian artist and conservationist, George Davis passed away in October aged 94. Davis is also known as the father of the Tasmanian actor, Essie Davis. Davis was a prolific painter and draughtsman of Tasmanian birdlife, plants and landscapes.
Davis’s best-known work, however, is his commission for the façade of the former ABC offices in Sandy Bay Road, later the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music. The mosaic incorporates 150,000 tiles and is an abstract interpretation of the ABC soundwave logo. Davis was commissioned to produce the work in 1961 after he won a design competition for a 19m-long mural for the ABC television studios in Hobart. Davis’s work is represented in Australian public galleries and museums including the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.
Katie Lyons Hughes, one of Dame Enid Lyons’ granddaughters, recalled:
When my grandmother, Dame Enid Lyons, was a commissioner with the ABC, she was shown, and asked for her approval of, a sample of mosaics to be used in the mural. Being a lover of all things turquoise, she didn’t hesitate to give it the thumbs-up. Little did she know she’d just approved the installation of a row of naked women on Sandy Bay Rd!! The beautiful artwork has forever been known in our family as “Enid’s Error”! Nan was given one of the women in a frame as a memento which still stands in one of the sitting rooms at Home Hill in Devonport.
The former ABC / Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music building while an important Modern Movement building with a glass curtain wall was approved for demolition by Hobart City Council in c2020. Under the approval, the Davis mural will be retained for a subsequent development. It is hoped that the owner, the Fragrance Group, will consider adaptive reuse of the existing building.
The following link provides more information on the Davis commission:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_9lW1T9N_4
Image: George Davis (1920-1994), Figure 5, Grace Euphrosyne, Modernist nude mosaic ‘study’ for the ABC building in Hobart, 1961. National Trust of Australia (Tasmania), Home Hill
