Medals of Dishonour; A Darker Side That Condemns

Medals of Dishonour is a British Museum exhibit that displays the reverse of the tradition of celebration and tribute. "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 medal entitled Financial Speculation was created in response to the financial scandals that occurred in Europe in the 1720s and has strong parallels with the situation today. Another highlight is a German anti-war medal from 1915 which shows a figure of Death happily smoking while seated on a cannon. A city is in flames in the background. This grimly sardonic medal expresses horror at the brutality of war without attaching blame to a specific side."

"The second part of the exhibition features medals recently commissioned especially for this exhibition from some of the world’s leading contemporary artists ... The subjects they depict are wide-ranging, dealing with issues from the war in Iraq and consumerism to *ASBOs and the credit crunch. Grayson Perry’s For Faith in Shopping shows a Virgin Mary-like figure dressed in designer labels and carrying a shopping bag, highlighting the UK’s almost religious obsession with high-street spending. William Kentridge’s Greed Envy Rage, 2008, depicts a megaphone striding through a denuded landscape. Kentridge’s work is steeped in and responds to the political and historical contingencies of his upbringing in apartheid-era South Africa."

The highlights of the collection include what is known as ASBOs *(antisocial behavior disorders).

Culture and Arts, Art and Museums, History, Senior Women Web, Tam Gray

Medals of Dishonour; A Darker Side That Condemns

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