102982 | GREAT BRITAIN. "Searle at Seventy" silvered bronze Medal.

102982  |  GREAT BRITAIN. "Searle at Seventy" silvered bronze Medal. Issued 1990 to commemorate the 70th birthday of the artist (68mm, 201.68 g, 12h). By Ronald Searle for the British Art Medal Society and struck by Fattorini.

 

Somewhat stylized portrait of the artist facing slightly right, with his head turned upward, shielding his eyes and being pierced by an arrow; DEJA? (already?) to left // SEARLE AT SEVENTY, nude facing figure of the artist as Laocoön, wrestling with a serpentine monster that forms a "7" to the left and a "0" to the right. Edge: Plain.

 

Attwood 67 & p. 18; The Medal 17, p. 93; The Medal 18, p. 125 (and also serving as the front and back cover art for the issue). Essentially as Made. Silvery-gray surfaces, with an antiqued nature around the devices; great relief, especially upon the reverse. From a mintage of just 80 pieces.

 

A famed caricaturist, cartoonist, and animator, Ronald Searle, who passed away at the age of 91 in 2011, created numerous works for BAMS during the latter portion of his career, including this satirical issue on the occasion of his 70th birthday. His description of it in The Medal 17 reads that "...it is a satirical medal, and the subject is: SEARLE AT SEVENTY. Medal in Commemoration of a Mini-drama. No. 1 in a series of Great Classical Trivialities. 'The images are, I think, self-explanatory but, in case it is not immediately readable, the snake around Laocoon incidentally forms the figures "7" and "0"... I feel that it is rather appropriate that there can be an occasion when a satirist can deflate himself publicly and take a little of what he likes to deal out to others!'"

 

Upload: 2 December 2024.

 

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