STRATIFIED ANTHROPOMORPHIC DESIGN

While the article on anthropodermic books was a bit gruesome in last week’s E-Sylum I recall the use of the related word "anthropomorphic," meaning “human-like.” With this meaning in mind I have used it in cataloging a medal or two, one of which was a forester’s national association which illustrated, obviously, a tree on the reverse. All the leaves were human faces. I have the term listed in my Encyclopedia.

I had to use this word to describe a sculpture recently. The statue in Boston’s Charles River esplanade is composed of layers to form the head of Arthur Fiedler, famed conductor of the Boston Pops. How do you describe this statue? I even inquired of the editors of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for the proper term.

Their reply was “layers” a term used by the artist, Ralph Helmlck. In my 40 years working with sculptors I had learned artists are poor wordsmiths, with some exceptions, of course, like Malvina Hoffman. “Layers” sounded like I was describing a cake. I wanted something like “striated” layers. Here is what I wrote to describe this unusual sculpture:

As a numismatic connection some years back I wanted a head of Abraham Lincoln in this sculptural technique in medallic size. I contacted a dozen medallists. Not one taker; all refused such a commission.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE ANTHROPODERMIC BOOK PROJECT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n44a34.html)

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