Two medalists were selected to share the Mel Wacks Judaica Art Medal Award for Judaic, Biblical or Holy Land themes during the biennial Congress of the International Art Medal Federation in Tokyo.

Polish artist Ewa Olszewska-Borys and Lithuanian creator Romualdas Incirauskas were selected for the honor at FIDEM 2020/2021.

The Olszewska-Borys medal, titled E=mc2, is described in the catalog as: “Albert Einstein predicted gravity waves first observed in 2015. The reverse of the medal shows the fusion of two black holes and the gravity waves this generates.”

The 127- by 130-millimeter rectangular cast bronze medal features a thoughtful Einstein in Olszewska-Borys’s personal style combining incused and raised surfaces.

The Incirauskas work portrays Chiune Sugihara. It is also rectangular, but measures 150 millimeters by 150 millimeters, and is described in the catalog as: “Dedicated to Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara (1900–1986), who lived in Lithuania, in Kaunas, from 1939-1940. During World War II, he saved about 6,000 Jews from Lithuania, Poland and Germany by issuing them with Japanese transit visas. ... The symbols on the reverse convey the tragedy of the Jewish people.” The reverse depicts a large Star of David intertwined with scenes of Jewish victims behind barbed wire fences of the death camps.

Each recipient will receive an engraved silver medal, courtesy of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, and will share the $250 prize money, presented by the Cincinnati Skirball Museum, home of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame Medal Collection.

Collectors can contact the two awarded medalists for images, availability and pricing information at eob@wp.pl and incirauskas@gmail.com.

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