The Louis Dembitz Brandeis
Medal, issued in 1971
The first letter (12/9/70) indicates that “the quotation of Justice Brandeis, which is to go on the reverse side of the medal … is: ‘Make
real the brotherhood of man’.” And then Gerta reveals that “My brother sent it
to me with a sketch of how he wished to have it placed.”
Gerta’s brother, Victor Ries had designed the first medal
issued by the Jewish-American Hall of Fame in 1969, honoring Judah Magnes, and
more significantly, Victor created the unique rounded-trapezoidal shape of the
medals, that distinguish this series. But the fact that Gerta used the quote
and design of her brother, did not prevent him from suggesting (contained in a
letter dated May 24, 1971 from Seymour Fromer, Director of the Judah Magnes
Museum) “removing the heavy lines and moving the words THE and OF MAN
to the left or off center.” Victor also suggested “to move the face (of
Brandeis) to the right … As it stands now the middle is not acceptable.” Gerta
did not make these changes, and it was nevertheless acceptable, as Gerta wrote
(2/20/71) to Mel Wacks: “I just want to tell you how glad I was that my work
for the Brandeis medal pleased you.”
Sketches
by Seymour Fromer of design changes suggested by Victor Ries (5/24/71)
But Ms. Wiener was by no means finished with the Brandeis
models, indicating (4/9/71) that “this is the plasticene version and will be
sharpened in the plaster of Paris.” Later the same month, Gerta typed out her
thoughts about the Brandeis medal, as was requested by Mr. Wacks. In part, she
wrote: “It is, of course, always a challenge to have to do a good portrait of a
person you have never seen and will never be able to see – painting or
sculpture – as a portrait is, or should be much more than a literal rendition
of features. I had to rely on whatever kind of photos of his head I could obtain,
and they were none too good for my purpose. They showed him either too young or
too old, and had the lack of character of many newspaper portraits of prominent
people. But having a strong mental image of the man from what he had been and
said helped me, I hope, to express some of his personality through my work.”
Brandeis original
clay models for obverse and reverse (4/9/71)
Gerta was never very happy with the way many of her medals
turned out, and she anticipates problems with her very first medal (11/14/71):
“I was glad to hear that the very particular gentleman from the ‘Medallic Arts’
(sic) had nothing to say about my design and its execution, so I hope I’ll feel
the same when I see their work!”
Brandeis bronze
medal
