American Art Collaborative

Paul Manship created uncharacteristically grim images for the obverse and reverse of this medal, which memorializes Germany’s conquest of Belgium. “Kultur” was an idealization of German civilization, developed by the German state to justify acts of aggression under the imperial regime. On the obverse, Manship depicted a thick-necked kaiser wearing a “rosary” of skulls representing the nations he had defeated. On the reverse, a Teutonic soldier abducts a woman whose baby lies dead on the ground. This medal sold for ten dollars to help relief efforts during the First World War