RON DUTTON (1935-2026)

Founder member and a Vice President of BAMS and of the International Art Medal Federation. Exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions in the UK and abroad. A major retrospective was held at the Royal Coin Cabinet of Sweden in 2004.

Work is in many international public and private collections and commissioned medals undertaken for private and public clients including The Royal Mint and The British Museum.

Many articles written by Dutton have appeared in The Medal, the journal of the British Art Medal Society and critiques and comment on his work have been included in many other journals.

Particularly comprehensive publications have been:

• The Art of the Medal, Mark Jones, British Museum Publications, 1980
• Circles in Bronze, A survey of work 1964 -1992, Wolverhampton Art Gallery 1992
• Ron Dutton, A life making marks, Frances Simmons, Simmons Gallery, London 1999
• Ron Dutton - From Landscape to Lunarscape, Marie-Astrid Voisin, The Royal Coin Cabinet, Sweden, 2004

To read the complete article, see:
Ron Dutton: Great Britain (https://artmedal.net/bio.php?artist=ron_dutton)

Ron Dutton (b. 1935) is widely regarded as a pioneer of the art medal form. He is a contemporary sculptor and medallist from Nantwich, Cheshire. After years of working mainly in sculpture, Dutton began producing medallic art in 1974. Of the medal, he states, ‘I see the medal as a small sculpture that offers creative opportunities beyond its traditional use, the two sides offering the opportunity to explore themes and ideas and the qualities of shape, colour, rhythm' (Marcy Leavitt Bourne, ‘From Landscape to Lunarscape'). Dutton was instrumental in founding the British Art Medal Society (BAMS) in 1982. He has since served the society as both Secretary and President. He is currently listed as Vice President on the BAMS website. Dutton was also the British delegate for the Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d'Art (FIDEM), the foremost international medal foundation. He has been a key figure in revolutionizing the contemporary practice of medallic art.

Common themes in Dutton's work include nature, landscapes, birds, flight, space travel, architecture, fantasy, memory, and poetry. He often refers to his own surroundings, specifically the British landscape, when considering new subject matter to explore. Dutton's medals are unique in their exploration of nature and landscape, a subject ‘which has seldom been tackled by medallists, perhaps because it is so difficult to render light and atmosphere in bronze.' Yet, his manipulation of the bronze's patina and careful means of contrasting textures allows for ‘a sensation of space and place extraordinary in so small a work' (Mark Jones, The Art of the Medal).

The Choice is Ours was originally put forth as a design for a conservation themed medal in a competition organised and funded by the Royal Mint. Dutton won the competition in 1990, and this specific medal was struck in 2004 as part of a limited-edition set (The Medal, no. 17, 1990). Dutton often uses his medals as a space to show concern for the environment and advocate for the protection of nature. On the obverse of The Choice is Ours, a tree is in danger of being swallowed by a sea of cardboard boxes. The reverse depicts a fish swimming in a sea polluted with the detritus of mankind, turning its shiny scales to mere ribs. Above the fish reads, ‘The Choice is Ours'. Dutton's medal asks the viewer to choose what kind of world they want to live in, and to act upon that choice.

To read the complete article, see:
The Choice is Ours (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1772112/the-choice-is-ours-medal-ron-dutton/)

George Cuhaj writes:

To read the complete Facebook post, see:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DLG44PBqA/

 

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