Albert Gallatin Portrait Medal

American collector, painter, and critic Albert Gallatin (1881-1952) founded the Gallery of Living Art at New York University in 1927, and nine years later he renamed his institution the Museum of Living Art. The Gallery of Living Art was one of the first in America to display works by contemporary European artists such as Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. In 1937, Gallatin became a member of the American Abstract Artists Group, which encouraged American artists to “break the rules” as European modernists had done. On the reverse of this medal the inscription “from his friend Paul Manship/March 1955” reflects the tradition of artists dedicating works to one another out of friendship and professional respect.