1978 CAMP DAVID ACCORDS PEACE MEMORIAL

 
80.218.1 Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, Atlanta, GA

This is a photo of the Peace Memorial medal modeled by sculptor/artist Domenico Mazzone in 1978 to commemorate the Camp David Accords. On the obverse of the 1¼" bronze medallion are three bas-relief portraits of Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, President Jimmy Carter and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the word peace in Hebrew, Egyptian and English. On the reverse is seen a stylized Pyramid on which appears the word Peace in both Hebrew and Egyptian along with a rendering of the stone tablets on which are inscribed the Ten Commandments. The branches and tree leaves are symbolic of the Nile River, the life-source of Egypt and the pharaohs. I do not know the number of copies that were made, but how one came into my possession a quarter century ago has a backstory.

In the late 1990's, a co-worker, knowing I had written a number of articles for our company newsletter, asked if I might be interested in interviewing a sculptor friend of his who lived in New Jersey. At the time, my knowledge of sculpture was limited to having taken an art survey course in college, but because interviewing a sculptor sounded interesting, I agreed to do it. A few weeks later Domenico Mazzone and I had an enjoyable conversation during which I learned that he was born in the village of Rutigliano, di Bari in Italy in 1927. At age thirteen he began working as an apprentice stone cutter and over time became a sculptor, in the process achieving some success. He emigrated to America in 1966, quickly gained recognition, opened a studio in Manhattan in 1968 and then settled in New Jersey. In the ensuing years he produced works in marble, plaster, terra cotta, clay, wood and bronze. He was also a painter of note.

Mazzone was appointed instructor of sculpture for the United Nations International School in 1976 and in time modeled a portrait bust of Secretary General U Thant and a bas-relief of former Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold. At the close of our conversation, he offered me two of his works. One was a small plaster model, about six inches high, of what was obviously a head of the crucified Christ that had been separated from its wooden plaque. The other was the 1¼" Peace Medal.

Unknown to me, Domenico Mazzone, whose works have been exhibited and are held in museums and collections around the world, yet relatively unheralded in the United States, died shortly after our day together. The medal appears to be the only one he ever executed and while I believe it was cast by Roman Bronze Works, according to Jonathan Frembling, Curator of the Amon Carter archives, where the company's files are held, those files only go up to 1970. Interestingly, an undated copy of a letter sent from Menachem Begin in Israel to Mazzone in New Jersey thanked the sculptor for sending the medal to him. My guess was that medals were also sent to Presidents Anwar Sadat and James Earl Carter, Jr.

 

Jim adds:

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