SOM#051, Malvina Hoffman, The Brotherhood of Man, 1955
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Photo by John Birks
Number Issued: 722 Bronze
FROM THE ARTIST
The Medal of the Brotherhood of Man – The thought prompting the design and quotations on this medal is the very timely problem: how the races of the world can learn to understand one another.
“Proclaiming Liberty every man to his Brother” was said by Jeremiah in pre-Biblical days – Chap.34.17.
The world of today, with mea and continents brought into closer relations than ever before in history must not only proclaim Liberty to all Men, but must practice the age-old principle of brotherly love, which may lead the world to understanding and peace.
In the background the Greek Cross frames the four racial types. A central compass indicates North for the White race, East for the Yellow race, West for the Red race, and South for the black race.
The words on the reverse of the medal, surrounding the map of the world, were written by John Donne (1573-1631): “… No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, part of the main; … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind …”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in New York City, June 15, 1887; daughter of Richard and Fidelia (Lamson) Hoffman; studied painting with John Alexander; Sculpture with Gutzon Borglum and Herbert Adams in New York, and with Auguste Rodin, Paris.
Fellow National Sculpture Society
Fellow New York Historical Society
MEMBER
National Academy of Design
National Institute of Arts and Letters
Architectural League of New York
Society of Women Geographers
HONORARY MEMBER
American Woman’s Association
Pen and Brush Club
National Arts Club
DECORATIONS
Palmes Academiques (French) 1920
Royal Order of St. Sava III (Yugoslavia) 1921
Chevalier Legion of Honor (French) 1951
DEGREES
Doctor of Literature Mount Holyoke College. 1937
Doctor of Fine Arts, University of Rochester. 1937
Doctor of Fine Arts, Northwestern University. 1945
Doctor of Humane Letters, Smith College. 1951
AWARDS
Honorable Mention, Paris Salon, 1910; First Prize for Russian Bacchanale, Paris, 1911; Honorable Mention, San Francisco Exposition, 1915; Julia S. Shaw Memorial Prize, National Academy of Design, 1917; George D. Widener Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1920; Helen Foster Barnett Prize, National Academy of Design, 1921; Elizabeth N. Watrous Gold Medal, National Academy of Design, 1924; Joan of Arc Gold Medal, National Association of Women painters and Sculptors; selected by the N. Y. League of Business and Professional Women as one of the Outstanding Women of Achievement, 1935; The American Woman’s Association Award for Eminent Achievement, 1937; Selected by Career Tours Committee (co-operating with the N. Y. World’s Fair, 1930) as one of the twelve women whose work has contributed most toward human betterment in the last half century.
AUTHOR
Heads and Tales (autobiography) 1936
Sculpture Inside and Out, 1939
American Sculpture Series, 1948
WORKS ON PERMANENT EXHIBITION
Hall of Man, Chicago Natural History Museum; American Museum of Natural History of N. Y.; Metropolitan Museum, N. Y.; Musée de l’Art Moderne, Paris, and others. Stone panels on facade, and interior carvings in the War Memorial, American Cemetery, Epinal (Vosges) France. 30 portraits of “Eminent Citizens,” New York Historical Society.
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