NUMISMATIC NUDIES Publique Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 23, June 2, 2002, Article 12
NUMISMATIC NUDIES
A news item about Philadelphia models who pose nude
for artists wanting to form a union triggered my memory
of who has modeled nude for artists creating medallic
models. Of course, the Philadelphians wanted more
money, $15 an hour instead of $12, and, perhaps,
cushions for where flesh meets any hard surface.Both sexes are in demand for the human form. But it is not
just for art students to learn the location of muscles and to
commit graceful body curves to memory. Experienced
artists still need the realism a live model provides. In 1929
Laura Gardin Fraser used her male studio assistant for
America's most prestigious sculpture award, the National
Sculpture Society's Special Medal of Honor. We found
the photograph of artist and model and reproduced it on
the sleeve of the video I wrote for "The Medal Maker."
[Are numismatic videos considered literature within the
precepts of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society?]The nude human form removes time from a medallic design.
Clothing dates a design because of fashions. The nude human
is timeless and classic and was chosen by sculptor Robert A.
Weinman when, in 1950, he designed a new series of the
most artistic award medals for the N.C.A.A. (recently
replaced by pictographs). He needed models for each sport.
Surprisingly, my old boss at Medallic Art Company, Bill Louth,
volunteered to do Golf. So he is preserved in perpetuity in his
best swing stance in the buff. Both men are still alive and can
verify this story, but it was also printed in Sports Illustrated in
1972 in an article on sports awards and trophies.P.S. This does lead to some incongruities. The Ice Skater is
also shown in the nude. Shiver! The Philadelphia models
story can be found at:- 2002-06-02
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