NEW BOOK: SCHER COLLECTION OF PORTRAIT MEDALS

The Pursuit of Immortality: Masterpieces from the Scher Collection of Portrait Medals

This catalogue, published to accompany an exhibition of the same name, includes highlights from the Scher Collection, arguably the world's most comprehensive and significant private collection of portrait medals. The collection, part gift and promised gift to the Frick, dates from the fifteenth through the nineteenth century and comprises extraordinary examples from Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England. An essay by Aimee Ng traces the development of the art of the medal, providing an elegant and concise introduction to the topic.

Author: Aimee Ng
Publisher: The Frick Collection in association with D Giles Limited
Hardcover, 7 ⅛ × 7⅛ in., 64 pages, 40 color illustrations
Price: $19.95
Member Price: $17.95

For more information, or to purchase, see:
The Pursuit of Immortality: Masterpieces from the Scher Collection of Portrait Medals (http://www.frick.org/shop/exhibition_catalogues/scher/medals)

The portrait medal is one of the most important artistic inventions of the Renaissance and an essential part of the history of portraiture in western art. Inspired by ancient coins, medals were created primarily to commemorate individuals and events. Typically, the front (called the obverse) bears a portrait of an individual, and the back (or reverse) presents associated imagery and text, such as a heraldic device, personal allegory, emblem, or narrative scene. All kinds of artists produced medals — painters, printmakers, sculptors, and gold- and silversmiths. The art form flourished across Europe in the fifteenth through the nineteenth century. As it did, the making, form, and function of medals varied widely.

The Scher Collection is the finest and most significant of its kind in private hands. Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher have generously given a substantial portion of their collection — about 450 medals — to The Frick Collection, the largest gift in the museum's history. The Pursuit of Immortality celebrates this gift, presenting about 130 masterpieces from the collection.

The exhibition traces the story of the portrait medal from its beginnings in Renaissance Italy through its histories in various European regions, including present-day Germany, France, England, and the Netherlands. A small but significant grouping illuminates the art of the medal in Russia, Scandinavia, and North America. Because national borders have changed substantially since the fifteenth century — Italy, for example, became a nation only in 1861 — the exhibition's geographic organization belies a complex history of these regions and their medals.

A selection of complementary works of art from the Frick's holdings illustrates the intersections between the medal and other arts and honors the medal as a triumph of sculpture on a small scale.

To read the complete article, see:
The Pursuit of Immortality: Masterpieces from the Scher Collection of Portrait Medals May 9, 2017 to September 10, 2017 (http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/scher)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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