Medals of Dishonour
25 June – 27 September 2009
Room 90
Exhibition closed
Medals are best known for celebrating important figures
or heroic deeds, but this unique exhibition features medals that
condemn their subjects. The display exposes the long and rich
tradition of this darker side of medals.
The first part of the exhibition focuses on the Museum’s
collection of satirical and political medals from the 16th to the
20th centuries. Subjects range from the sombre and the bizarre to
the scatological and the humorous, and the medals will be placed in
context through the use of contemporary prints and drawings. Two of
US sculptor David Smith's influential Medals for Dishonor
of the 1930s (from which the exhibition borrows its title) are
included, along with a little-known medal by Marcel Duchamp.
The second part of the exhibition features medals recently
commissioned from leading contemporary artists Jake and Dinos
Chapman, William Kentridge, Grayson Perry, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov,
Richard Hamilton, Mona Hatoum, Ellen Gallagher, Langlands and Bell,
Cornelia Parker, Michael Landy, Yun-Fei Ji, Steve Bell and Felicity
Powell.
The subjects they depict are wide-ranging, from the war in Iraq
and consumerism to ASBOs and the environment. The new medals have
been commissioned by the British Art Medal Trust, a registered
charity dedicated to the making and study of medals. The Trust has
presented an example of each of the newly commissioned medals to
the British Museum for its permanent collection.
Supported by Chora
Image: © Mona Hatoum; Ilya and
Emilia Kabakov; Grayson Perry; Felicity Powell