Beloningspenning voor Voortvarendheid en Vernuft 1917 1917

Pier Pander made this medal in 1917, and it was clearly a precise and careful process. Look at the way the light glints off of the surface, it gives a real sense of the burnishing, polishing, and labour that went into its making. The metal is cool in tone, but in the light, it feels warmer, like aged brass. I love the way the artist has made the text feel like a border that both contains and protects the central image. On one side, the clean profile of the Queen, and on the other, the shield with the horn - symbols that must have felt so loaded with meaning at the time. The lines are deeply carved, it feels solid and robust, like something that is meant to last - a marker in time. It reminds me a little of the work of the German artist, Käthe Kollwitz, her linocuts have a similar directness. Art like this becomes part of an ongoing conversation between people and objects.