The 2025 FIDEM Grand Prix

The modern art medal is still an underestimated field. Situated between modern art and traditional numismatics, it is considered an insider tip among museum curators and specialists. FIDEM wants to change that. Founded in 1937, the Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d’Art states that its primary goal is to give art medals an equal place among the visual arts. To date, this has not been achieved. Art medals are the poor relation of international galleries and art fairs. This fact is associated with a decisive disadvantage for artists and a great advantage for collectors: art medals are very inexpensive compared to other works of art. Interested collectors can purchase the medal that won the 2025 Grand Prix FIDEM from the artist for only $125.

FIDEM Congress 2025 in Munich

FIDEM regularly holds international meetings to select the best medal submitted to the competition. In 2025, the XXXVIII Congress took place in Munich from October 15 to 19. It featured not only lectures by speakers from 21(!) nations, but also a workshop for medallists, an exhibition and many opportunities for informal conversation and exchange. For collectors of modern art medals, the FIDEM Congress is a unique opportunity to meet the best artists and purchase their most beautiful works.

Jim Licaretz wins the Grand Prix

In 2025, for the second time since FIDEM was founded, an American was awarded the Grand Prix. Jim Licaretz received it for his work “Autoritratto di Fantasia.” The medal shows a portrait of the artist, with his medal creation growing out of his head. The missing sections of the medal emphasize the silhouette of the portrait and represent a major technical challenge.

The jury gave the following reasons for selecting the winning medal:

„Jim Licartez’s work Autoritratto di Fantasia presented a strong design that directly addressed the subject. The title of the medal perfectly captures the key to its meaning. In this excellent self-portrait, the face looks into the distance while the brain focuses on fantasy and recalls the past. The ring forms a circle that contains the idea and creates a private space for the imagination. A range of fantasies, memories, and influences is suggested by the small panels springing from the head — antiquity, literature, music, mystery. The medal was beautifully modelled, cast, and patinated, representing a perfect marriage of innovation and traditional values.”

The artist explained that he had immortalized the medals that meant a lot to him in his self-portrait. These include “Paul Auster, esteemed Jewish author and filmmaker, Leonard Bernstein, a great Jewish composer, and at the top right, a piece called Momento Mori – female nude with skulls. At the lower left is a medal of Akhenaten, a rather infamous Egyptian Pharaoh.” Friends of Egyptian art will surely recognize Queen Nefertiti on the back of the opus.

Who is Jim Licaretz?

Jim Licaretz is no stranger to American medal enthusiasts. In 2022, he created a medal depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which was named American Medal of the Year in 2023.

The artist trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, one of the oldest art academies in the United States. Licaretz served at the US Mint from 1986 to 1989 and from 2006 to 2016. He is responsible for the design of the 2008 Liberty Silver Dollar featuring the bald eagle flying to the left, the first cent from the Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Program, which depicts the log cabin where Lincoln spent his childhood, and various designs in the American the Beautiful series.

Licaretz did not only work for the US Mint. Among other things, he worked for the Franklin Mint and made an interesting mark during his five years at Mattel, where he headed the figure modeling department as master sculptor. In this role, he played a leading role in the development of many Mattel productions in the 1990s. He is likely to be responsible for the Barbie dolls that Mattel created in the 1990s for a discerning collector’s market. Licaretz’s ability to appeal to a wider audience with his artistic designs may have its roots in this period.

The medallist is considered a pioneer in the use of state-of-the-art technology in medal production. He was already experimenting with 3D modelling and 3D printing in 2007. He integrated this technology into the manufacturing process. It supports him in the production of the casting moulds, although Licaretz still finishes and patinates each medal by hand.

Jim Licaretz is a well-known figure in American medal art. He was president of the American Medallic Sculpture Association and has received numerous awards for his work. He has taught at numerous prestigious institutions, such as the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and has thus contributed to passing on the art of medal making to a new, young generation.

His works can be found not only in private collections, but also in the British Museum, the American Numismatic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Swedish Royal Coin Cabinet.

Text and images: Ursula Kampmann