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Message:: [QUOTE="leeg, post: 3452807, member: 17073"]Last post for a couple weeks here. Be out of range of the internet.  <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie100" alt=":wideyed:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />   “Coin designs that blend technical skill with artistry move coinage from instruments of commerce to diminutive pieces of art. Among the plethora of commemorative designs, many stand out for a variety of reasons. Some are renowned for their content, some for their technique, and others for their creativity. Chester Beach (1881-1956) is considered on of the prominent commemorative designers of the 1920s and 1930s. His list of commemorative designs include the Monroe Doctrine half dollar of 1923, the Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar in 1925, the 1928 Hawaiian Sesquicentennial half dollar based upon designs by Juliette May Fraser, and finally the 1935 Hudson Sesquicentennial half dollar.   The Monroe Doctrine is innovative for its reverse design that uses stretched and improvised contortions of the female human form to represent the continents of North and South America. Beach’s design for the Monroe Doctrine half reflects trends in coinage design and the creativity and failure of an artist just as much as it commemorates the Monroe Doctrine.   Struck to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, the piece was oddly sponsored by the motion picture industry, rather than the obvious choice of a patriotic organization. The First Annual American Historical Revue and Motion Picture Industry Exposition was held in June 1923, providing a convenient way for the film industry to gain some publicity. Many of the pieces are worn and well within the realm of any collector—with pieces available for under $25. Arlie Slabaugh suspects that many of the commemoratives were placed in circulation for good publicity rather than to obtain money, which is the traditional use for commemorative issues. A negative result of wide circulation is that this issue is one of the rarest commemoratives in gem condition.   The reverse design, praised for its imaginative usage of figures, is perhaps derived from an 1899 design by Ralph (sic) Beck. The design can be found on the reverse of the medal for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition of that year in Buffalo, New York. James Earle Fraser, who acted as an advisor for the designing of the Monroe half, brushed off accusations of plagiarism. But a comparison of the two designs shows many similarities in the figures and the design layout. Beck’s design also serves as a prototype of Beach’s. While many view the design as mundane, others the Monroe half as an interesting modern coinage design, yet falling victim to contemporary medallic trends such as shallow relief.   In terms of successful modeling, the piece does not stand out as an exceptional example of the coiner’s art. . .   The obverse is substandard, with its portraits of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams standing among the worst in the American numismatic tradition. The portraits seem not to be portraits at all but rather two generic male figures. Both the obverse and the reverse continue the trend—that began with Anthony de Francisci’s half dollar and continued with John Flanagan’s Washington quarter—of using low relief to give the coin a soft appearance. On Beach’s half, the shallow relief is hardly successful in defining the portraits or allegorical figures, for they lack any sharpness of definition and do not display the fortitude and strength of the continents.   When researching the article the author discovered an artist named Giuseppe Arcimgoldo (Italian, 1527-1693), who may be the first to use individual figures as symbols. In his paintings ‘Eve with Apple’ and Counterpart,’ Arcimgoldo composes the faces by grouping small cherubs in various poses. The works are privately held, and to book is listed in the bibliography. Arcimgoldo is presently regarded as a clever artist who has fallen out of interest, but his work establishes an earlier artistic precedent upon which the reverse design of the Monroe Doctrine half is based.   Throughout his life, Beach reworked the ‘personagraphy’ theme used on the reverse applying it to many of his commissions. While Beach’s Monroe Doctrine design has its critics, it successfully reflects the sensuality of the motion picture industry of the 1920s. The design serves to reflect the oeuvre* of Chester Beach where clever ideas fall victim to poor modeling, low, relief, and ultimately plagiarism.”14 <img src="https://oi11.photobucket.com/albums/a195/leeg1957/Book%20Project%20Images/Monroe%20Doctrine/Archimelego.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />Giuseppe Arcimgoldo (Italian, 1527-1693), who may be the first to use individual figures as symbols. In his paintings ‘Eve with Apple’ and Counterpart, Arcimgoldo composes the faces by grouping small cherubs in various poses. Courtesy The Commemorative Trail, The Journal of the Society for U.S. Commemorative Coins, A Study of Chester Beach’s Monroe Doctrine Design, by Steven R. Roach (J-087, MI) Spring – 1998, Volume 15 - #3, p. 27. *oeu·vre, noun, the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively. "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" 14The Commemorative Trail, The Journal of the Society for U.S. Commemorative Coins, A Study of Chester Beach’s Monroe Doctrine Design, by Steven R. Roach (J-087, MI) Spring – 1998, Volume 15 - #3, p. 26-28.[/QUOTE]

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