“The Definition Dictionary” by V.I. Dahl defines “the Medal as a ready rhino, though not a circulating coin,
stamped in memory of a certain event, such as a victory, peace, enthronement, crowning, etc.”
At the beginning the target of a medal was to memorialize a historical event or an outstanding personality. But the perception of a medal is not limited by its comprehension as a social and political memorial with a wide range of the subjects, such as portraits, landscapes, monuments of architecture, historical events. It can depict philosophical topics reflecting the personal perception of the world by an artist.
As to the degree of the informative value and concentration of ideas neither genre of the arts can be compared to a medal. Combining the elements of sculpture, calligraphy, graphics, pictorial art, a medal enables the artists to expose the diversity of their talent, intensity of passion and communicate their personal world view.
A medal sets very interesting and complicated targets in front of an artist – within a very small area, when the height of the relief is limited, an artist shall achieve the reproduction of the volume, distant view, perspective projection, and sometimes even color.
The medal art is a sui generis chronicle of the mankind, where our whole big, changing and beautiful world is imprinted.
