Stack's Bowers & Ponterio
October 2022 Hong Kong Auction 9-13 Oct 2022
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CHINA. President Nixon/Chairman Mao Meeting in China Plaster Model, 1972. UNCIRCULATED.
Diameter: 262mm. Obverse: President Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao Zedong seated, facing; ★ PRESIDENT NIXON VISITS CHINA ★ above, 1972 below. Signed MK at right. Screw at back. Bright white plaster but for a small central stain from a reverse screw mount. An interesting memorial of the historic summit between the Chinese and American leaders. This piece was part of the design process for a proposed medal to commemorate the event. It was found in the studio of the artist after his passing. The artist, Mico Kaufman, was a Romanian-born sculptor who is credited with the creation of three official inaugural medals of United States Presidents, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as well as many other issues. Kaufman was trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He was taken captive by the Nazis during World War II and spent three years in a forced labor camp. He emigrated to the United States in 1951, where he lived until his passing in 2016. Such plasters are important parts of the design process and are integral in the transference of the artist's original sculpted design into medallic form. Most are lost or discarded, but occasionally survivors like this one are found, usually in the holdings of the artists themselves, as here.
Estimate: $300 - $500
Diameter: 262mm. Obverse: President Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao Zedong seated, facing; ★ PRESIDENT NIXON VISITS CHINA ★ above, 1972 below. Signed MK at right. Screw at back. Bright white plaster but for a small central stain from a reverse screw mount. An interesting memorial of the historic summit between the Chinese and American leaders. This piece was part of the design process for a proposed medal to commemorate the event. It was found in the studio of the artist after his passing. The artist, Mico Kaufman, was a Romanian-born sculptor who is credited with the creation of three official inaugural medals of United States Presidents, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as well as many other issues. Kaufman was trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He was taken captive by the Nazis during World War II and spent three years in a forced labor camp. He emigrated to the United States in 1951, where he lived until his passing in 2016. Such plasters are important parts of the design process and are integral in the transference of the artist's original sculpted design into medallic form. Most are lost or discarded, but occasionally survivors like this one are found, usually in the holdings of the artists themselves, as here.
Estimate: $300 - $500