RICHARD SCHLATTER’S 'A. LINCOLN' PORTRAIT

In the October 22, 2017 issue of The E-Sylum, there was a brief notice about A. Lincoln, a two-dimensional portrait of the 16 th President created almost entirely out of Lincoln cents, which, by vote of the public, won the Grand Prize in the 9th annual ArtPrize event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This distinctive work is the creation of artist Richard Schlatter, of Battle Creek, Michigan. Living as I do in Kalamazoo, Michigan which is just 50 miles south of Grand Rapids, and 20 miles West of Battle Creek, I am ideally positioned to take a closer look at this numismatically significant artwork, and to share my impressions with readers of The E-Sylum.

ArtPrize is an open, independently-organized international art competition which takes place over 19 days each fall in Grand Rapids. More than $500,000 in prizes are awarded each year, including a $200,000 prize bestowed by public vote, and another $200,000 prize awarded by a jury of art experts. Any artist working in any medium from anywhere in the world can participate. Artworks are displayed in public venues throughout downtown Grand Rapids, and are freely open to the public. In 2016, 1,453 pieces created by artists from 40 states and 44 nations were exhibited in 170 different venues, drawing over half a million visitors, making ArtPrize the most attended public art event in the world.

ArtPrize 2017 was held September 20 - October 8. Richard Schlatter’s monumental (8 by 12 feet) A. Lincoln was displayed in the lobby of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, located on the banks of the Grand River, and proved an overwhelming visitor favorite. It won the 2-Dimensional Prize by public vote, and also captured, out of 384,053 ballots cast, the $200,000 Public Vote Grand Prize.

Richard Schlatter is the founder of the SchlatterGroup, a full-service advertising agency in Battle Creek. Early in 2017, he decided to create an entry to the 2017 ArtPrize, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln realized almost exclusively with Lincoln cents. Taking as his model the striking face-forward portrait of Lincoln photographed by Alexander Gardner on November 8, 1863 (just eleven days before the President delivered the Gettysburg Address), Schlatter chose the imposing scale of eight by twelve feet, and began selecting Lincoln cents in hues from bright red to rich brown needed to realize his vision. This included 1,681 1943 steel cents to depict the lighter color of the President’s shirt. In all, approximately 24,500 cents were used, with no chemicals or paints used to alter the color of the copper cents (the steel cents were cleaned with a solution of lemon juice and water, then hand-polished with a soft cloth). All of the cents received a coat of UV-resistant clear acrylic to protect them from future oxidation.

Schlatter created a working grid of the Gardner photograph on his backing board, then began to painstakingly select cents by color, and to glue each one on individually. Five pounds of glue were used to secure the cents, and at least 465 hours were consumed to secure them to the board. Much of the work had be done on a ladder-like platform, and it was necessary to retreat to ground level from time to time to observe how the newly-added cents appeared from a distance.

Left: Schlatter Creating; Right: Orosz Observing

On October 27, 2017, I attended a meeting in Battle Creek of a private charitable foundation on the Board of which I serve, and upon the meeting’s conclusion, all Board members walked over to the offices of the Battle Creek Community Foundation, where Schlatter’s A. Lincoln is on public display until at least the end of calendar year 2017.

The sheer scale of the work impresses immediately, as the photos of the author of this article admiring the piece, as well as that of artist Richard Schlatter standing in front of it, will attest. Then your eye is drawn to the tremendous variations in color, ranging from burnt umber to rosy brown, to russet, chocolate, auburn, bronze, sepia, and copper. All of this is apparent from the traditional viewing vantage of 2-3 feet away from the piece. But, as you back away from it, the individual coins meld into a unified vision, so that when you are 15-20 feet away, A. Lincoln seems to have brush strokes, as if it were painted. Stand further away still, and borders between cents disappear, so that the work seems to have been photographed. If you move from side to side, the variations in light and viewing angles will bring to mind even more distinctive impressions.

I was fortunate to meet Richard Schlatter during my visit. Schlatter, who modestly refers to himself not as the “artist,” but rather as the “designer” of this inspiring portrait, has collected his share of coins in the past, and has built homages to “penny” collectors into A. Lincoln’s very fabric. At least one Lincoln cent of every date 1909-2017 can be found among the 24,500; along with two Indian cents, dated 1891 and 1901; and a solitary cent planchet (the 1909 Lincoln and the planchet, among other pieces, were donated to the project by Michigan State Numismatic Society past President Al Bobrofsky, also a resident of Battle Creek).

Schlatter told us about the challenges he faced in designing and creating A. Lincoln, not the least of which was the sheer physical demands that climbing, bending, and hauling placed upon the artist. It was annoying to occasionally drop buckets of carefully color-sorted cents upon the floor, and downright discouraging to step back and realize that several of just-glued cents did not look right, and must be removed and re-glued. There were times when, aching and disheartened, he contemplated abandoning the project. During such times, however, the words of the late coach Jim Valvano at the 1993 ESPY awards kept coming back to him: “Never give up….don’t ever give up.”

Richard Schlatter

We can be thankful that Schlatter listened to the late coach Valvano. The ArtPrize visitors of 2017 were right to select this impressive portrait of “Lincoln made of Abrahams” as the Public Vote Grand Prize Winner. For now, A. Lincoln remains the property of the artist, but offers are on the table from both private collectors and public institutions to eventually provide it a more lasting home. Battle Creek is just north of Interstate-94, about halfway between Detroit and Chicago. It would repay any numismatist traveling or residing within a wide radius of the Cereal City to see the 96 square feet of A. Lincoln while it is still on free public display at the Battle Creek Community Foundation, through at least the end of this year.

Joel adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ARTIST WINS AWARD FOR LINCOLN PENNY PORTRAIT (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n43a22.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web