The study examines the breakthrough of modern Finnish east medals: There were raised 95 east medals by 25 artists in the 1960's. Of the artists only five (5) had made medals before and others were newcomers. Of the "old" artists three (3) and one newcomer had made a east medal or plaque before 1965 when the Guild of Medal Art in Finland was founded. The examined east medals turned out to be the basics of the modern Finnish medal art. The study has its basics on the idea of the institutional nature of medal artmedals have usually been commissioned works - and on the idea of the social network in the field of artworld. Art historical methods and art sociology has been contributed and to study east medals and medal groups has been built an operational tool on the basics of semiotics and structural lingvistics: the metalanguage of the medal art. The knowledge of the east medals for the study has been collected byinterviewing more than 200 persons, mostly artists and their relatives. In Fi
nland as a result of dualism in activities between numismatic associations and The Guild of Medal Art in Finland there arouse two partly different ideas of the essence of the medal art: the numismatic idea of the medal art and the pictorial idea of the medal art. The 1960's was the period of change in sculpture and the changes influenced on east medals that broke the conventional metalanguage of the previous medal art. New materials of medals were experimented: aluminium, ceramics, wood with plastics and sandstone. Some medals also were etched on the bronze like graphics. Some medals had innovative shapes, holes and rough structure with white colour. And some of the medals had high reliefs and sculptural-like three-dimensional forms. The contents had current and new medalthemes as spacemotifs, motifs that dealt with famine or with human rights and equality and medals that described living and working as an artist. A few opinion giving medals were modelled and some medals had an addition of humour. Sculptors modelled abstract medals and some influence of informalism, minimalism, naivism, surrealism, expressionism and some features of formbreaking kubism could be found, too. Cast medals bore the features of the pictorial idea of the medal with connections to sculpture-like idea of modelling medals. Cast medals were committed and exhibited more than ever. The role of commissioners, especially of the Guild, was remarkable in the development of the modern, east medals in Finland. The Guild created a new institution and a new social network for artists, collectors, medal manufacturers and sculptors that casted medals. The Guild also was obliged to fight its position as a newcomer as several medal artists. The Guild freed medal art largely of numismatic, coin-like features and established its own role as a publisher, commissioner, supporter, exhibitor and dealer of medal art. The basics of the role of the Guild lied on the fact that it created a system for artists to model east medals i.e. year medal, and acquired collectors and enthusiasts that were interested in east medals and purchased them. That kind of activity encouraged artists to make new non-commisioned east medals. The Guild acquired public acceptance for new medals and their innovative features basically by the year medal competitions and exhibitions. The exhibitions arranged by the Guild in the 1960's obtained publicity for east medals: the features of the pictorial idea of the medal got their status as well as new medal artists got their status inside the artworld.
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