Scarce! 1936 NBC Radio 10th Anniversary Art Deco Silver Medal, by Julio Kilenyi

Description

NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY
Tenth
ANNIVERSARY ART DECO MEDAL, 1936.
76mm (3”). Silver-plated Bronze. Modeled by Julio Kilenyi, Sc.; obverse designed by Richard A. Loederer; reverse designed by E.P.H. James. Uncirculated.
Obverse:
raised letters NBC at center reading both horizontally and vertically with lightning bolts emitting in four directions, the top flanked by the date 19/26 and the bottom by 19/36 (both in incused numerals).
Reverse
legend around:
·
NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC
·
A RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA SERVICE around TENTH ANNIVERSARY (incused) and at center a two-line inscription: TO THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED WITH US/ IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF BROADCASTING.
This scarce Art Deco medal has long been “unsigned” in various auctions with no artist or sculptor identified or credited with the design. However, the Cleveland Museum of Art credits the medal as being a collaboration of three people: “modeled by Julio Kilenyi (American, b. 1885); obverse designed by Richard A Loederer (American, b. 1894) and the reverse designed by E.P.H. James (American)”
– a gift to the museum’s collection by the National Broadcasting Company in 1937
(No. 1937.9.A/B).
A specimen at the New York Historical Society in NYC also credits Julio Kilenyi; and the Library of Congress collection identifies a similar item designed by Loederer in their
NBC History Files: 1922-1986,
Folder 173, Logos, “Photo of tenth anniversary (1936) plaque designed by Richard Loederer of Vienna.”
Thank you for looking! Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Julio Kilenyi
(Hungarian, 1885-1959)
was born in Arad, Hungary. Following studies at the Royal Art School at Budapest, he went abroad to attend art academies in Germany and France. Like his colleague and fellow Hungarian Alexander Finta, Kilenyi immigrated to South America early in life, but in his case the destination was Argentina. He arrived in 1907 and left for the United States in 1916, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1924. Upon coming to the United States, Kilenyi settled in New York City and remained a lifelong resident there.
Kilenyi was particularly renowned for designing commemorative plaques and medals. Among his numerous works, a few distinguished and noteworthy designs include: Aeronautical – U.S. Navy-Curtiss First Trans-Atlantic Flight Medal (1919); Charles A. Lindbergh Banquet Medal (1927); Richard E. Byrd Conquest of the Poles Medallion (1929) and the Wiley Post and Harry Gatty plaque (1933). The Port Authority, the public agency formed by the states of New York and New Jersey, appointed Kilenyi to execute several commemorative medals: George Washington Bridge Medal (1930); Bayonne Bridge Medal (1931); Lincoln Tunnel Medal (1937); Port of New York Authority JFK Airport Medal (1948) and Port Authority Bus Terminal, NYC (1950).
Kilenyi designed the participation medal for the Olympic Games held in Los Angeles in 1932. He also designed many portrait medals and plaques depicting well-known Americans including: Thomas A. Edison, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Mark Twain, and General John A. Pershing. Kilenyi was art director (1949-1955) for the L. G. Balfour Co., a jewelry manufacturing firm headquartered in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Among the professional organizations he held membership were the National Sculpture Society; the Architectural League of New York; Allied Artists of America; Audubon Artists, and the American Numismatic Society. Kilenyi died on January 29, 1959.
Richard A. Loederer
(Austrian, 1894-1981)
was a New York painter, etcher, designer, and illustrator. He was born on March 26, 1894, in Vienna, Austria. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna as well as the Schule Reimann in Berlin. After moving to New York, Loederer participated in the Works Progress Administration. His projects included painting murals in restaurants, such as the Blue Ribbon Restaurant in New York City and Stoll’s Tavern in Troy, New York. Loederer illustrated several books in the 1930s and 1940s. Originally published in German in 1932,
Voodoo Fire in Haiti
contained not only his distinctive art-deco-style woodcuts, but also his own account of his long sojourn on that then-mysterious Caribbean island.
In the 1930s, Richard "Dick" Loederer was a pre-“Golden Age” artist, writer, and editor for
National Periodicals,
which would later become
DC Comics, Inc
.
,
one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books
and related media.
Loederer would later returned to Vienna, where he died in March 1981.
Edgar Percy Horace (E.P.H.) James
(1904-1987)
was employed by the National Broadcasting Company (1927-1941) as head of sales and promotion. E.P.H. James was born in 1904 in Essex, England, and would become an influential advertising and public relations practitioner until his death in 1987. He worked for media giants such as NBC, Mutual Broadcasting, and AC Nielsen. A prolific writer and public speaker on topics related to broadcasting and advertising, James authored
The Technique of Market Research
(1936). A collection of James' work from 1922-1976 are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. James is credited with the design of the reverse of the NBC medal, however he most likely was responsible for the development of the wording/text.
Thank you for looking! Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
I have a large collection of bronze bas-reliefs, plaques, medallions, and medals that I will be listing this month by the following sculptors: Chester Beach, Victor David Brenner, Anthony de Francisci, Donald De Lue, John Flanagan, James Earle Fraser, Laura Gardin Fraser, Daniel Chester French, Henry Hering, Anna Vaughan Hyatt-Huntington, Charles Keck, Julio Kilenyi, Frederick MacMonnies, Hermon A. MacNeil, Paul Manship, Bela Lyon Pratt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Janet Scudder, Louis St. Gaudens, and many others, including prominent French medalists/sculptors/engravers!
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