Provenance Ferner Galleries

Eileen Mayo was born in England and after studying at the Slade School of Art, London she enrolled at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art specialising in the linocut under Claude Flight. Mayo's long career was characterised by her crossover between fine and applied arts and associations and also time as an artist's model. Having attended the Slade and then the Central School of Art, Mayo's early career saw her working as a model to some of the best-known artists of the time, including Laura Knight and Dod Procter.

Her first linocut, made to instructions over the telephone from Claude Flight to be shown at Flight's exhibition of linocuts, was purchased by the Victoria & Albert Museum. She continued her studies at Chelsea Polytechnic under Henry Moore, and at the Académie Montmartre under Ferdinand Léger.

She first emigrated to Australia in 1953 and then joined her mother and sisters in New Zealand in 1962. Devoutly religious and a conservationist Mayo's direct observation of nature and reverence for all living things is reflected in her work. Her many achievements include writing and illustrating books on natural science, designs for the Australian Travel Association, murals, coins and stamps. She became a Dame of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours List in 1994.