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Category: Exonumia

SOCIETY OF MEDALISTS #17, DANCE OF LIFE, BY ALEXANDER CALDER, 1938

M011

Bronze, 891 struck, Medallic Art Co., NY

73 mm (2-7/8”), 240 grams

HISTORY: This issue #17 of the Society of Medalists was the work of famed American sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder (1870–1945). He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts, studying under Thomas Eakins, further studied in Paris where he was accepted into the École de Beaux-Arts. He returned to America, gaining worldwide recognition for his lifetime of work.

OBVERSE: Mother, kneeling, holding a child who is playing with a ball, “THE DANCE OF LIFE BEGINS EARLY AND GOES ON.”

REVERSE: Three dancing figures, two female circling male, “WITH PLEASURE PAIN AND THE PROTAGONIST.”