in memoriam - 2016
Emma Sz. Egyed’s artistic talent can be best witnessed in her medals. Her works brought her recognition in both Hungarian and international exhibitions. She was awarded prizes in 1975, 1981 and 1985 at the International Dante Biennial (Biennale Internazionale Dantesca) held in Ravenna. She was a member of FIDEM and participated in almost every exhibition organized since 1977. She played an important role in launching the National Medal Biennial (1977), where she remained an active exhibitor and received numerous awards.
She was a representative of the classical nature-based artistic approach. She enjoyed working in series, and her medals often portrayed famous figures from Hungarian and global history, literature, music and art. Historic city parts and the characteristic portrayal of architectural motifs, especially from the Gothic monuments of her hometown Sopron, were recurring themes in her medals The Hungarian National Bank commissioned her to design commemorative medals. In her studio she also created bronze busts, statuettes and embossments. She was also engaged in teaching for several decades. Besides numerous Hungarian public collections her works can also be found in the Burgenlandisches Landesmuseum in Eisenstadt, the Centro Dantesco in Ravenna and the Museum für Österreichische Volkskunde in Vienna.
Viràg Szabó & Kati Keszthelyi
GyOrgy Kiss (1943-2016)
György Kiss started his career as a painter, and was awarded several prizes in Hungary for his strong expressive paintings. From the ‘80’s he turned exclusively towards the plastic art, and focused mainly on medals. Besides exploring the existential issues of mankind in his philosophical statuettes, he also worked on bronze portraits and public sculptures. His plastic art had several layers both in its themes and in its styles. His figural and abstract compositions were filled with expressionism. His medals were characterized by the bold subjectivization of his themes and the ease and elegance of expression. He was very creative in leveraging the tension deriving from light effects, differences in facture and the movement of the base plane. He was a frequent exhibitor at the National Medal Biennial in Sopron from 1977, and was awarded the Grand Prix (Ferenczy Béni Prize) in 1987.
Between 1975 and 1988 his medals were showcased at the International Dante Biennial (Biennale Internazionale Dantesca) held in Ravenna. Between 1977 and 2014 he attended almost every FIDEM exhibition. His works were exhibited in several European cities, as well as in Egypt and Cuba.Besides numerous Hungarian public collections his works can also be found in the Centro Dantesco in Ravenna, in the British Museum Department of Coins and Medals in London and in the Albertinum in Dresden. György Kiss also has a significant struck medal legacy. He designed several commemorative medals for the Hungarian National Bank. His HUF 5000 medal depicting the Gyula Castle, was voted as the world’s most beautiful medal by the public in 2009. He is an honorary citizen of the City of Gyula. You can read more on his work in Bálint Chikán’s The Medallic art of György Kiss in The Medal,
“The battle between the forces of nature, the drama of decomposition, the forces binding the rocks together, the ancient marvels carved out of stone, the medieval cathedrals, the order of the world as seen from above, the chaos of life down under, the clash of human emotions and the reconciliation thereof. This is the way I perceive the world. I honor the creative mind and hands, the materials. I believe in the joy of creation and the power of art to make this world a better place. I believe in the coming of a society that seeks and loves the arts.”
Viràg Szabó & Kati Keszthelyi
BO THORÉN (1939-2016)
The Swedish artist Bo Thorén mostly know in Sweden for the creation of a 50 öre coin has passed away. He participated in FIDEM congresses since 2000 with medals created for the Swedish Mint but exposed some very interesting free creations in 2007.
Play it again Sam
Luis AntOnio Veiga LeitAo – artistic name Veiga LuIs (1952-2016)
Architect in the city council of Gondomar, Veiga Luís also devoted himself to painting, sculpture (medals, trophies and ceramics), design, drawings and theatre decors, besides writing poetry. He took part in the majority of the FIDEM exhibitions since XXVIII Congress Paris 2002 until XXXIII Congress Sofia 2014.
In 2004 he was awarded a honorary medal at the 3rd International Biennial of Contemporary Medal in Seixal, Portugal. His works are represented in the Diogo Gonçalves Museum, in the António de Almeida Foundation both in Portugal, in the Palma de Maiorca Museum, in Spain, and in several private collections in Portugal, Brazil, Israel and Spain.
About Painting to Sculpture I, exhibited in Sofia in 2014, the artist tell us “…the title itself refers to a painting with relief, reduced through the photograph and at the same time stating its sculptural dimension as a medal.”
Inka Klinckhard (1922-2016)
Inka Klinckhard passed away at the age of 93 in her hometown Laren, The Netherlands. She was a still active artist and internationally
recognized medal artist and sculptress. She was a FIDEM member for many years and exhibited during several FIDEM congress exhibitions.
Important themes in her works were infinity, freedom and the Old and New Testaments. Horses and people - especially mother and child - were important sources of inspiration. Klinckhard was extremely productive and versatile: clay modeling and plaster cutting, sculpture in wood and stone, bronze statues, bronze medals in high and low relief and in matching two-piece medals.
Her medals are to be found in several Dutch musea and in the Koninklijk Penningkabinet Nederland, the National Museum of Copenhagen, the Münzkabinett of the Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin and Muzeum Sztuki Medalierskiej in Wroclaw (Breslau).
During the FIDEM congress in Crakow in 1975, she received a price from the Polish Ministry of Culture for her medal 25 years Liberation (1970). Another of her famous medal is Tivoli from 1977.
More information
SYlvia Perle (1938-2016)
Sylvia Perle, active AMSA member and internationally recognized medallic artist, passed away January 30th from an embolism. She began exhibiting medals in the 1992 FIDEM congress and will exhibit in this year’s 2016 congress in Belgium. Most recently, Sylvia’s work focused on using the medallic format to give voice to challenging social and political issues. Her ability to convey the gravity of the subject and the nuances of the situation in the small format of the art medal was consummate. The oppression of women in the 21st century, the mechanics of bioterrorism, a legacy of unexploded land mines worldwide, the plight of the working class, prisoners of torture, and the 
current tide of refugeescrossing the Mediterranean Seawere all explored through her medals. Just as her medals explored nontraditional topics, her choice of medium for her work helped expand the definition of the art medal. Sylvia’s work was not limited to cast bronze but incorporated fabricated and cast elements of glass, wood, plexiglas and metal. Each piece had its own message and required its own medium to be heard. Her willingness to address these issues through her work, to go beyond simply visually appealing work to work that provokes thought and discussion in an artfully rendered way, is her legacy.
Kate Perle
Crossing the Mediterranean, 2015 (will be exhibited during the coming congress in Ghent/Namur 2016)
photo: Kate Perle
