Portrait relief medal of Sir John Paul Getty Jnr thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Portrait relief medal of Sir John Paul Getty Jnr

Portrait Medal
2005 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Jane McAdam Freud is a sculptor and medal-maker whose work explores and challenges the traditional definition of a medal. This piece is derived from a commemorative Christmas medal in bronze, commissioned from Jane McAdam Freud by Sir John Paul Getty Jnr and his wife, Victoria, to be given to members of their staff, but here it is produced in stone clay (terracotta). However, it conforms to the traditional concept of the portrait medal in having an image of a person on the primary face (obverse) and a message on the reverse alluding to a specific moment in time - in this case the conference organised by the British Art Medal Society in Manchester which took 'The medal as gift' as its central theme and at which this medal was presented to a Curator from the V&A for its collection. The inscription 'MAN.U from me' combines a resonance of a significant aspect of Manchester's identity - Manchester United football team - with the fact that the medal is a gift. In fact at the conference, the maker gave examples of her work to five private individuals and to five museum curators for their collections.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePortrait relief medal of Sir John Paul Getty Jnr (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Terracotta squeeze
Brief description
Medal, terracotta relief, portrait of Sir John Paul Getty Jnr, commemorating the British Art Medal Society Conference, by Jane McAdam Freud, Britain, 2005
Physical description
Profile portrait to right of the late Sir John Paul Getty Jnr (1932-2003) born Eugene Paul Getty, name changed legally later. Reverse inscribed.
Dimensions
  • Irregular height: 8.1cm
  • Irregular width: 5.1cm
  • Depth: 0.3cm
Production typeLimited edition
Copy number
10/10
Marks and inscriptions
'BAMS 2005 - / - MAN.U from me - / - J.McA.F. 10/10' (Reverse inscribed by the artist)
Translation
BAMS is British Art Medal Society
Credit line
Given by the artist Jane McAdam Freud
Object history
Image based on a commemorative Christmas medal commissioned from Jane McAdam Freud by Sir John Paul Getty Jnr and his wife, Victoria, to be given to members of their staff.
Given to the Museum by Jane McAdam Freud.
Historical context
Jane McAdam Freud addressed the British Art Medal Society Conference in Manchester on Saturday 7 May 2005. The conference theme was 'The medal as gift' and her talk was called 'Token or Treasure an Artist's Perspective'. The artist concluded with a request for 5 volunteers to step forward, followed by 5 named curators - Mark Jones, Director of the V&A, Luke Syson of the National Gallery, Phillip Attwood of the British Museum, Henry Kim for the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Wendy Fisher for the V&A. Each of the curators was presented with the portrait relief of Sir John Paul Getty Jnr for their collections and the 5 volunteers were also given portrait reliefs as personal gifts.

The inscription on the reverse refers to Manchester, its football team, Manchester United, and to the the central theme of the conference 'The medal as a gift'. It also carries the artist's initials, the date and edition number.
Production
Attribution note: Edition of 10
Reason For Production: Commemorative
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
Jane McAdam Freud is a sculptor and medal-maker whose work explores and challenges the traditional definition of a medal. This piece is derived from a commemorative Christmas medal in bronze, commissioned from Jane McAdam Freud by Sir John Paul Getty Jnr and his wife, Victoria, to be given to members of their staff, but here it is produced in stone clay (terracotta). However, it conforms to the traditional concept of the portrait medal in having an image of a person on the primary face (obverse) and a message on the reverse alluding to a specific moment in time - in this case the conference organised by the British Art Medal Society in Manchester which took 'The medal as gift' as its central theme and at which this medal was presented to a Curator from the V&A for its collection. The inscription 'MAN.U from me' combines a resonance of a significant aspect of Manchester's identity - Manchester United football team - with the fact that the medal is a gift. In fact at the conference, the maker gave examples of her work to five private individuals and to five museum curators for their collections.
Bibliographic reference
Simmons, Frances, 'Gifts of Beauty, The BAMS Manchester Conference 2005', in:The Medal , Issue no.47, Autumn 2005, pp 83-85, another version illustrated p.83
Collection
Accession number
A.26-2005

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Record createdOctober 4, 2006
Record URL
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