Report: The British Art Medal Society 2024 Conference

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My initiation into the captivating field of medallic art began nearly a decade ago, while working as Head of Documentation at the British Museum. I was invited by Philip Attwood, then Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals (now the Department of Money and Medals) to enhance the database records for the late 19th Century /early 20th Century French medals in the Collection. Philip suggested this because of my fluency in French, facilitating my use of the excellent French catalogues in the departmental library. I had no knowledge whatsoever of medals as works of art but was privileged to receive Philip’s training in how to catalogue them. This led to my participation in workshops organised by the Money and Medals Network, funded by the Royal Numismatic Society and the British Numismatic Society, my sessions focussing on cataloguing medals. I am now a fully-fledged member of the British Art Medal Society (BAMS), attending its talks and conferences and occasionally publishing articles in its journal The Medal, as well as a member of the Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d'Art (FIDEM).

I now work at the Goldsmiths’ Company as Collections Manager in the Curatorial Department, overseeing the Collections Management System for the object collection. I was encouraged to develop my medallic interests with regard to the Company’s significant medal collection, and in April 2024 presented a paper on it at the BAMS Conference at Příbor, Czech Republic.

The venue was chosen because of its connection with the highly talented artist Jane McAdam Freud (fig.1), who tragically died in 2022. Příbor is the birthplace of Jane’s great grandfather Sigmund Freud and one of the conference venues was the Jane McAdam Freud Gallery in the main town square. As well as talks, the programme included informal ‘show and tell’ sessions by medallist delegates, including the Polish artist Hanna Jelonek, the coin and medal designer Asamat Baltaev (now based in the Czech Republic) and the British artists Julian Cross, Irene Gunston, Linda Crook and Yay-an Davies. The traditional BAMS workshop took place at the townhouse home of Jane and her husband Peter Henson, which incorporates a museum with a selection of her works.

The main day of the conference was devoted to the talks, which were held at the Kulturní dům (Cultural Centre) and were introduced by Julian Cross as BAMS President. The topics were varied and included Philip Attwood (President of FIDEM) on Frank Bowcher in India, Asamat Baltaev about his work, Peter Henson on the Jane McAdam Freud Gallery; Hanna Jelonek on her ‘Adam’ medal and other works, Dr. Kateřina Nora Nováková (Czech Delegate to FIDEM) on the work of contemporary Czech medallist Jiří Dostál.

My presentation began with a review of the significant contribution made by the Company to ‘the understanding, appreciation and encouragement of the art of the medal’. This resulted in its being awarded in 2022 the BAMS President’s medal, by Dauvit Alexander (2021) (fig.2). Medal acquisitions (notably the commissioning of the Prime Warden portrait series), exhibitions and the Company’s collaborations with other institutions in medallic projects were discussed. These included the Goldsmiths’ Centre’s continued support of the BAMS Student Medal Project and Dr. Dora Thornton’s The Art of Fame exhibition in 2023-24 and her accompanying book.

There followed an overview of the Company’s medal collection, describing its range, and the presence of prototypes, models and copies. Whereas most of the artists represented are British, there are also works by artists from other European countries and from further afield. Apart from a few examples, I deliberately selected pieces which were not included in The Art of Fame, in order to provide fresh content. The ‘historic’ examples included Frank Bowcher’s commemoration of the Franco-British exhibition at White City in 1908 (fig.3) which reinforced the Entente Cordiale signed by Britain and France in 1904. The obverse has an allegorical figure holding a flower in the foreground, a large laurel wreath at her side, with the exhibition buildings at White City in the background. A plaque for the recipient is inscribed with the name of the Goldsmiths’ Company, which had a financial and administrative role in the event. The reverse shows the two nations, elegantly personified, seated and holding hands, with an allegorical figure holding an olive branch standing behind them.

Another early 20th Century medal was used in my analysis of the meaning of the term ‘copy’, namely the copy (probably British) of Karl Goetz’s cast iron medal commemorating the Sinking of the Lusitania, made in 1915. On 7 May 1915 RMS Lusitania, a Cunard passenger liner carrying nearly 2000 passengers from New York to Liverpool, was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank off the coast of Ireland, killing nearly 1200 passengers. Rather than commending the event, Goetz’s medal, produced on his own initiative rather than as a state commission, was satirical. Its appearance, however, was seized upon by the British among others, who produced their own version, with minor variations but significantly a corrected date, for anti-German propaganda purposes. (fig.4)

The main focus of the talk, however, was on medallic works from the mid 20th Century to the present day. This significant aspect of the Company Collection was initiated by a pioneering exhibition, Medals Today, held at Goldsmiths’ Hall in 1973. It was organised by Graham Hughes, who at the time was both Director of Art at the Goldsmiths’ Company and Head of Design at the Royal Mint and was a collaboration between both institutions. The exhibition was a great success, travelled to Aberdeen and Leeds, and received very favourable and extensive press coverage.

I presented the range of these modern and contemporary works according to a set of themes, beginning with portraiture. Jane McAdam Freud’s ‘Picasso’ medal (1982) commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pablo Picasso (fig.5). Its irregular shape applies astutely to both the artist’s portrait on the obverse and to that of his young mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter on the reverse, based on a detail from his painting ‘Le Rêve’ (1932). Ian Rank-Broadley’s ‘Michael Ayrton’ (1996) is based on two sources, Ayrton’s self-portrait drawing for the obverse and an etching from Ayrton’s series of etchings on the subject for the powerful figure of the Minotaur on the reverse. (fig.6)

Other categories reflected global concerns of special relevance or interest to the medallists and to society generally. Environmental degradation and the illegal wildlife trade were issues expressed through various approaches. Kyosun Jung, whose works in the Company Collection are principally in the form of vessels, produced the medal ‘Ivory Exploitation’ (2014). The obverse shows the head of an elephant bereft of tusks while the reverse depicts a coiled trunk along which an inscription starkly reminds us of the scale of the problem. (fig.7)

The subject of war was exemplified by several disturbing pieces, such as Ronald Searle’s ‘Kwai 1942-1943’ (1992), recording the artist’s experience as a prisoner-of-war working on the Thai-Burma railway, a project which caused the deaths of thousands of captives, working in intolerable conditions. (fig.8)

Immigration and Displacement, which also resonate strongly in the current political climate, were poignantly expressed by the sculptor Maurice Blik in his medal on the subject, commissioned by the Company, and the only one he made, in 2012. (fig.9) It is a work in high relief, in which two figures emerge slightly dazed into their new environment. The depressions on the reverse suggest their enforced departure from their homeland, reflecting Blik’s’ own life experience.

Medals are produced in a variety of forms and structures, but some have particular constructions. An example is the Italian sculptor Jorio Vivarelli’s ‘Movement’ (circa 1990), with a futuristic abstract design on both sides and a separate stand, into which the medal is slotted to permit rotation and which is an intrinsic component of the piece. (fig.10). This medal is rarely found, unlike another example by him, commemorating the inauguration of the Mitchell Wolfson Jr. Collection of Decorative and Propaganda Arts in Miami 1984, also in the Collection, and his FIDEM XIX Congress 1983 medal.

Although only a small selection of works is discussed here, the BAMS presentation included around 60 medals from a current total of 349 in the Company Collection. The conference audience was informed that the full Curatorial Collection will be available digitally on the Company website in 2027. This important initiative is part of the Goldsmiths’ Digital Project which forms part of the Company’s 700th anniversary celebrations.

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Written by Tanya Szrajber | Photography: Clarissa Bruce (Fig 2., Fig5., Fig7., Fig8., Fig. 9), Richard Valencia (Fig 4.)