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Medals

Reference:4029 Gustav Mahler, 1911

Head of Gustav Mahler, left. A naked figure standing, left, being consumed by fire. By Benno Elkan. Copper, cast. 125 mm. (5 inches) in diameter.

Condition: Very fine.

Notes: Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Bohemian composer and conductor, director of the Imperial Opera in Vienna (1897-1907), and for the three years following, a conductor in the United States. Benno Elkan (1877-1960), a German-born sculptor and medallist who fled Hitler in 1933 and settled in England. Elkan had a highly individual style and excelled in portraiture, producing some remarkable work. He was a leader in the revival of medals and plaquettes in the early twentieth century, and those pieces from that period are amongst his best medallic work. However, almost all of it is rare, having been produced in small numbers. This portrait of Mahler must rank amongst Elkan's finest work, and it is certainly the most powerful medallic image of the composer. The reverse side is a dramatic embodiment of Mahler's early death from consumption.

References: Niggl 1230.