Medals about Art

The medal's obverse bears kneeling semi-nude female figure facing left, holding goddess of victory in one hand, lyre in the other. Around, · ST · PAUL ·  - · INSTITUTE · ; signed in exergue, P · MANSHIP

The reverse bears winged steed in flight over large sun; wreath around bottom.

Paul Manship attended the St. Paul School of Art, which was later renamed to Saint Paul Institute of Arts and Sciences. I guess this medal was a thank you to his alma mater where his lifelong passion for sculpture was first kindled.

The medal's reverse is very reminiscent of the Art Directors' Club medal's obverse.

The circular medal measures 53.6mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by the Medallic Art Company of New York. No mintage is reported.

References:   Baxter 364, MACo 1916-012-01, Murtha 76

This uniface medal's obverse bears standing woman, cradling pallet in one arm and holding brushes and a winged trophy. Signed at bottom left, V. D. Brenner

The reverse bears engaving, THE ART LEAGUE OF NASSAU COUNTY / 25TH ANNIVERSARY / 1950 / GEORGE TSCHAMBER

This was a popular art award medal that was used for many years by different organizations.  Dick Johnson reports that the National Art League used it as of 1961 but this example clearly predates that production run (MACo 1961-065).

The circular medal measures 50.6mm in diameter and was struck in gold-plated bronze by the Medallic Art Company of New York. No mintage is reported.

References:   MACo 1929-024

This uniface medal's obverse bears standing woman, cradling pallet in one arm and holding brushes and a winged trophy. Signed at bottom left, V. D. Brenner

This medal exists in many different variants, but this one is a full-sized 3in medal that I believe to be an early one.

The circular medal measures 75.9mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by the Medallic Art Company of New York. No mintage is reported.

References:   MACo 1929-024, 1931-053

The plaquette bears sword-wielding goddess of victory striding left, facing right; behind her, eagle swooping towards left edge where sun is rising. Around top, on scroll, VICTORY; at bottom, ART / WAR / RELIEF

Paul Manship was a fierce patriot and supporter of the Red Cross' humanitarian efforts in Europe. On the U.S. homefront, he was a member of auxiliary 282 of the New York Chapter of the Red Cross, also called "Art War Relief."  That group assisted the war effort by raising funds via the sale of donated art, by creating special patriotic art, and by painting landscape targets for the training of artillery personnel.

Manship's plaquette is a beautiful example of art -deco bas-relief. It usually comes mounted on a black bakelit base and can be found in original bronze or patinated green variants.  It is part of many museum collections world-wide.

The plaquette itself measures 60mm by 76mm and is made of bronze. No mintage is reported.

References:   Baxter 368

The obverse bears Art Deco image of Bellerophon with lyre riding winged pegasus above sun. Around, ART DIRECTORS CLUB / INCORPORATED 1920.

The reverse bears painter with palette and brush in center. Around center, AWARDED FOR SPECIAL MERIT. Around edge, laurel wreath with (PM monogram) at bottom.

The edge is marked MEDALLIC ART CO. N.Y.

Louis Pedlar founded the Art Directors' Club of New York in 1920 in response to the uncertain relationship between advertising art and fine art. Pedlar assembled a group of art buyers, art department managers and layout artists to ponder whether advertising art could be judged by the same stringent standards as fine art.

Obviously the answer was "yes" because Paul Manship was asked to create a medal to be used as an award. Awards were given annually in the areas of black-and-white illustration, color illustration, oil painting, and poster art, though not always in all areas.

An article published in Printers' Ink Monthly outlines the process that was used:

"All mediums were given consideration; black-and-white, flat color, oil painting and decorative design. A rigid standard of selection was enforced, and the 300 pictures shown, selected from many thousands submitted, represented the best there is in advertiding design.

Both the organization and the award still exist but the medal was replaced by a modern cube in the 1970's.

The medal measures 54mm (2 1/8in) in diameter and were manufactured by the Medallic Art Company of New York.

References:   MACo 1921-07, Murtha 139

This medal's obverse bears nude male figure restraining rearing winged steed. Signed at right above exergue, (RCW monogram)

The medal's reverse bears facade of Brown & Bigelow building. At top of building, THE HOVSE OF QVALITY / BROWN & BIGELOW; zodiac symbols all around. Signed in exergue, RCWAKEMAN

The edge is marked with MEDALLIC ART CO. N.Y. BRONZE

The Allied Artists of America, Inc., as it is now known, was founded in New York City in the year 1914. The twelve original founders were Ernest Albert, Paul Cornoyer, Marshal Fry, Edmund Greacen, Arthur Powell, Walter C. Hartson, William R. Leigh, Frederick Mulhaupt, G. Glenn Newell, H. Ledyard Towle, H. A. Vincent and Jules Turcas. Its goal is to further the cause of contemporary American artists through its Annual National Open Exhibition in New York City, open to all members and non- members, demonstrations, lectures, awards at the Annual, slide program, a newsletter mentioning all activities of the Members and Associate Members and other cultural activities.

I am not quite sure how Brown & Bigelow came to be commemorated on the medal's reverse, but they likely were a big financial supporter of the organization or possibly underwrote the medal's production. The earliest reference to a Brown and Bigelow Award Medal that I could find dates to 1929.

The medal measures 63mm in diameter and was struck in bronze and gold by the Medallic Art Company of New York. No mintage is reported.

References:   MACo 1925-042

The medal's obverse bears woman seated at pedal-driven spinning wheel, Beacon Hill skyline in background. Around top, BOSTON · CHAMBER · OF · COMMERCE; in exergue,  · ART ·  - · IN · INDUSTRY · / · MEDAL · - OF · AWARD · ; signed to right of pedal, RAYMOND · A · /PORTER · SC · / 1926

The medal's reverse is left empty for award dedication.

The medal was struck in bronze by the Gorham Company of Providence, Rhode Island.

The medal's obverse bears portrait of Joseph Pennel, facing right. Around top, JOSEPH · PENNELL; signed and dated at right, SEPTE (JF monogram) MBER / MCMXIX

The reverse bears a coat of arms surrounded by belt with Philadelphia Water Color Club written on it. Around, IOSEPH · PENNELL · MEMORIAL · MEDAL

In the autumn of 1900, a group of dedicated painters founded the Philadelphia Water Color Club to raise the esteem of watercolor in the art world.  At the time, oils and sculpture tended to dominate art exhibitions. Over the decades, the club developed a distinguished collection of works by such greats as Maxfield Parrish, John Singer Sargent, and Pablo Picasso.  In 2000 the club changed its name to "Philadelphia Water Color Society" to reflect its changed nature and scope.

Joseph Pennell was a native Philadelphia artist who created many etchings and posters.  He is probably best-known for having created the poster for the fourth Liberty Loans campaign in 1918.   It shows New York City's harbor under heavy bombardment with the Statue of Liberty partly destroyed.

The circular medal measures 76mm in diameter and was first manufactured by the U.S. Mint. In 1949 it turned the dies over to the Medallic Art Company of New York and later medals were struck there. No mintages are reported.

References:   Baxter 159, MACo 1949-008

References:   MACo 1930-022

This uniface medal bears a standing female nude turned right towards pedestal bearing hourglass; decorative border extending around medal. At left, inscription in bands, ART IS / MIGHTY / LIFE IS / FLEETING / (CLH monogram)

This little gem picks up a famous line attributed to Hippocrates and reused by (among many others) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

"Ars longa, vita brevis."

While the quote originally refers specifically to the art of healing, Hinton probably interprets "art" much more literally and expresses his belief that art survives the artist.

The circular medal measures 76mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by the Medallic Art Company of New York. No mintage is reported.

References:   MACo 1932-028