As this image gallery shows, new designs of Penny 2009 are intended to show four different phases of the life of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln himself is represented in only two designs, the second and third. I showed the design everything on top, to give perspective, with an enlargement of the face of Lincoln under each drawing. The one on the left, from Lincoln's formative years, was designed by Charles Vickers. The one on the right was designed by Joel Iskowitz.
Third medal in this series is my favorite, by far. When you look at the image of Lincoln, you can see that Iskowitz somehow magically transported the hopes and dreams of a young confident, but perhaps still uncertain. Lincoln is situated with his arm out to command attention without demanding, while the hand behind the back shows a masterful combination of aperture and a pinch of insecurity. We see Lincoln, as human beings that had, with foibles and fears, hopes and dreams, rather than as the icon of the stern-faced, with a beard that we know from our currency. On the occasion of the enlargement of Lincoln's face, especially in the eyes, Iskowitz caught the emotion felt when Lincoln gave his "House Divided" speech at the Statehouse to Illinois in 1858. Too bad that this face is so wonderful about currency over that teeny hardly will see the beauty here.
Contrast "ardent young orator" Lincoln on Iskowitz with portrait of Charles Vickers (left image) to read as a young Lincoln. Vickers tells his story in the body global language, rather than the details of the face; Lincoln is portrayed as a young man sensitive, given more books and study more fatigue physical log breakdown. Where are the muscles a manual worker would have doing this work? Lincoln of Vickers is clearly only passing through the process of splitting registry, taking a break, as if it were, from the work of real life of Lincoln, who was mainly intellectual rather than physical. Although the artists of Mint, have very little, if any, say what global must create designs, I have seen Lincoln as the Mississippi riverboat hand or border shopkeeper, instead of split logs, a role that I believe mal-defines him compared to other workplaces that he held in his youth.
