May 3, 2018 – The Board of Trustees of the American Numismatic Society announced the recipients of the 2017 and 2018 J. Sanford Saltus Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of the Medal. For nearly a century, the ANS’s Saltus Award has been one of the most prestigious and desired awards given to medallic artists and sculptors. After due consideration given to dozens of candidates, the Saltus Award Committee chaired by Donald Scarinci selected Bogomil Nikolov of Bulgaria to receive the 2017 Saltus Award, and Geer Steyn of the Netherlands to receive the 2018 Saltus Award.
The Saltus Award.
Bogomil Nikolov
Having first studied applied arts at the Stroganov Higher Applied Art Institute (Moscow), and then mural painting at the National Academy of Arts (Sofia), Bogomil Nikolov (b. 1943) began to turn his attention to medallic art. Since the 1970s he has exhibited his work internationally receiving notable accolades. In 1996 he began teaching at his alma mater in Sofia, rising to full professor in 2002. As head of the Medallic Sculpture Studio at the National Academy of Art, he has had tremendous influence on the current course of medallic art in Bulgaria supervising scores of students and exhibitions of their work.
Geer Steyn
Geer Steyn’s (b. 1945) studies in sculpture began at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, where he initially followed the Academy’s traditional emphasis in figurative work. Thereafter he studied with Fritz Wotruba (1907-1975), a preeminent Austrian abstract sculptor, who greatly influenced Steyn’s subsequent work. Besides his work in medallic art, Steyn is widely known and praised for his large scale sculptures in stone that have been featured in exhibits alongside his medals.
The award medals will be presented to the artists by Donald Scarinci at the upcoming XXXV congress of the International Art Medal Federation (FIDEM), which will be held in Ottowa, Canada between May 29 and June 2, 2018.
If you want to know more about Bogomil Nikolov, please check his website featuring a lot of his designs.
And this is the website of Geer Steyn.
He had his own exhibition at the Museum Beelden aan Zee.
Wikipedia offers an extensive list of all recipients of the Saltus Award.
And if you want to know more about the American Numismatic Society, visit their website.