
Unknown photographer
Grainger Museum undated
Early photograph of the Grainger Museum
silver gelatin print
Grainger Collection, the University of Melbourne

Duo Art piano at the Grainger Museum Melbourne
Grainger believed that the hero or ‘superman’ was critical to culture and civilisation. Somewhat immodestly, he saw himself in this light, believing that his unfolding life was of universal interest. The expression of his self-regarding nature culminated when he established his own museum, or ‘Past-Hoard-House’, in Melbourne between 1935 and 1938. Grainger took an active part in the design of the building, assisting University of Melbourne architects Gawler and Drummond with its development. The design is strongly influenced by the Art Deco style which was fashionable in the early 1930s. He and his wife Ella were closely involved with its construction. His aim that it be an encyclopaedic study of himself and the influences that helped form him was frustrated by the reluctance of his friends to give up letters and memorabilia.
Nevertheless, inspired perhaps by European wunderkammer or ‘cabinets of curiosities’, the museum houses everything from baby photographs to Grainger’s autopsy report. It opened late in 1938 although, somewhat surprisingly, he never intended it to be open to the public. Among the astonishing bric-a-brac contained in the museum are a number of macabre mannequins. Commissioned in 1951, they represent himself, Ella and several friends dressed in examples of their clothing.
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