102749 | GREAT BRITAIN. "Sisyphus" cast bronze Medal.

102749  |  GREAT BRITAIN. "Sisyphus" cast bronze Medal. Issued 1989 (100mm x 90mm, 585.90 g, 12h). By J. McAdam for the British Art Medal Society.

 

Sisyphus seated facing, legs crossed and with head lowered to knees, and with boulder behind; SISYPHVS in stylized gilt lettering around // Sisyphus, with back facing, pushing boulder. Edge: Plain.

 

Attwood 61; The Medal 16, 118; De Beeldenaar –. Essentially as made. Deep brown surfaces, with lighter hues upon the high points. Highly impressive, with a great sculpted feel and the ability to stand freely. From an output of just 60 pieces.

 

Jane McAdam Freud was born in 1958, later studying and designing extensively in Italy—first with mosaics in Ravenna. Having shown at several FIDEM exhibitions, she designed this engaging medal in 1989 for the British Art Medal Society. About the medal, she wrote: "...after reading Camus' short tale entitled The Myth of Sisyphus, the character so captured my imagination that I decided to commemorate him in bronze. Sisyphus was condemned by the gods to roll without ceasing a rock to the top of a mountain where it would fall back of its own weight. The imagery evoked by this myth is very strong and impressive, lending itself favourably to a medal. The rock forms the body of the medal and Sisyphus' feet make the stand. A free-standing medal is something I have wanted to do since seeing one such example amongst the collection housed in the museum at the Royal Mint. With a standing medal the overlap between sculpture and art medals becomes much greater, posing the question—when does a medal become a piece of sculpture?" She recently passed away in 2022.

 

Upload: 1 May 2024.

 

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