GEER STEYN RECEIVES 2018 J. SANFORD SALTUS AWARD

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 22, June 3, 2018, Article 25

This press release from the ANS announces the 2018 winner of the J. Sanford Saltus Award. -Editor

Dutch artist Geer Steyn became the fifty-seventh recipient of the J. Sanford Saltus Award for excellence in medallic art at the biannual conference of the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM) in Ottawa, Ontario on May 29, 2018.

Donald Scarinci, Chairman of the Saltus Award Committee of the American Numismatic Society presented the award at the American Delegation reception in the Canadian Museum of Nature.

The award was created with a grant to the American Numismatic Society by J. Sanford Saltus in 1913 to recognize and encourage excellence in the art of the medal. The first Saltus award was presented in 1919; the silver award medal was designed by the prominent German-born numismatic and architectural sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman.

Geer Steyn’s (b. 1945) studies in sculpture began at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, where he initially followed the Academy’s traditional emphasis in figurative work. Thereafter he studied with Fritz Wotruba (1907–1975), a preeminent Austrian abstract sculptor, who greatly influenced Steyn’s subsequent work. Besides his work in medallic art, Steyn is widely known and praised for his large-scale sculptures in stone that have been featured in exhibits alongside his medals.

He joins the ranks of other significant artists who have been awarded the medal including, among dozens of others, James Earl Frazer (1919), Victor D. Brenner (1922), Paul Manship (1925), Lee Lawrie (1937), Donald DeLue (1967), Kauko Räsänen (1986), Gustaaf Hellegers (2001), and João Duarte (2011).

Three previous recipients of the Saltus award were on hand for the presentation of the award—Eugene Daub (1991), Jeannie Stevens-Sollman (1999), and Ron Dutton (2008)—who joined Scarinci in praising Steyn’s work.

As Scarinci noted, what sets Steyn’s work apart is their tactile quality. “While these hand-held pieces work visually,” he continued, “it is the act of holding them and touching them where the real experience lies. It is communication beyond the visual and beyond the boundary of mere words or text. Geer Steyn’s medals are sculpture!”

To watch the complete videos, see: 2018 J. Sanford Saltus Award (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54JFMm3yPo)
and Geer Steyn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0uxRIkwJPg)

Don Scarinci provided these images of some selected examples of Steyn’s medallic work, which are used here with permission of the artist. Thank you. -Editor

For more information, visit Geer Steyn's web site (linked below). Check out the Freud, Samuel Beckett and Amy Winehouse medals, along with the whole annual medal series. I particularly liked 1988, 1992 and 2017. -Editor