Beyond the Mainstream: Sculptor and Designer Eugene Daub
Meet the acclaimed sculptor and medallic artist whose work has influenced coins, medals, and monuments for decades. Eugene Daub reflects on his career, inspirations, and latest projects.
Eugene Daub is a name that may not be familiar to a large number of us in the collecting community, but he is a man who has, throughout a truly impressive career, done a considerable amount to shape it, specifically the images of what we collect. We were lucky enough to get some time for an interview, and asked some questions that we hope are of interest to all of us who read Numismatic News.
Thinking back, what was your inspiration, and what got you started as an artist?
Mr. Daub thought about this a bit and recalled being about 10 years old at a friend’s house when a pal’s uncle saw him doodling and bought him a book on the graphic arts, which really changed his life. He felt it lit something in him that he hadn’t been aware of before then. Thus, he started as a graphic artist.
Beyond this, what sort of formal training or schooling is in your background?
Eugene stated he felt he had no real formal training, although his road to sculpture and medals was winding with some rather formal connections. After leaving home, studying to be a hairdresser, and serving a stint in the Army, he ended up at an arts school in Pittsburgh, studying graphic arts, and then became the director of an advertising agency. He later became a bas-relief sculptor at the Franklin Mint, which allowed employees to take classes. He was thus able to study with nationally known sculptor EvAngelos Frudakis and further his training.
You certainly have an extensive background in the arts overall – how did you get into medallic art?
Eugene commented that learning bas relief was fascinating, and it seemed quite close to drawing while adding depth to his works. As he got started, he found himself going to the Johnson Atelier School of Sculpture. Here, he felt he learned everything from molds to sand casting to plastics.
Also, when he was starting out, he met Gary Erickson and Carter Jones, who at the time were forming the American Medallic Sculpture Association (AMSA), along with a few others. They were seeking people to join, and this young organization got everyone interested in and on fire for the medal as an art form.
You have competed extensively and won numerous awards. How does that feel?
Artists are very ego-driven, Eugene said, and awards are about recognition. He felt that at times it was worth pure gold. He noted that receiving the Saltus Award in 1991 really knocked his socks off. He had just finished his Mankind Series of medals, using a very new experimental technique. But he commented that all awards were important.
What projects are you working on now?
In Arlington, a figure of General Schriever – the father of the Air Force Space Program – is the work of Eugene, a piece of full-sized sculpture of which he is very proud. But he is working on several medals as well, including one for the Medals Collectors of America and one for the Jewish-American Hall of Fame. As if all this were not enough, he is collaborating with a friend on a book project, The Art Medal in America.
How many Mints or governments have you designed for?
Eugene is quite modest about his coin designs, noting first that he had been invited to compete for the Statue of Liberty designs back in the 1980s, but did not win. He did add that when he was working for the Franklin Mint, he did produce coin designs for some of the Southern Pacific island nations that are too small to have a mint of their own. He also mentioned working for the Monnaie de Paris, designing the gold peace medals of 2020, a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Numismatic News reported on these stunning pieces a few years back.
Are there any projects or works in which you feel you have more pride than others?
Mr. Daub noted that creating the Medal Collectors of America award medal gave him a real thrill, because he was given freedom of design, because it was a 3” medal, and because it showcased the high relief to which medals can be struck. He commented that he thought this was pretty much a dream job – producing a design that features Hephaestus, the Greek god of the forge, as well as his half-sister Clio and other figures from classical mythology. When asked about incorporating multiple classical gods and goddesses on one medal, he said it was “real catnip for an artist.” His talent clearly shines on this medal, as on many of his other works.
What sort of plans and projects are on the drawing board?
Eugene remains a very busy artist, even after building a remarkably successful career. He has two large sculpture projects underway right now. One is for an AIDS activist – a woman who devoted her entire life to helping others, which will be a full-sized sculpture to go in Chicago’s Legacy Park. The second is for a librarian who founded the Malaga Cove Library in California almost a century ago. As well, he is working on a further Jewish-American Hall of Fame medal, this one to honor Vera Rubin, an astronomer who was a pioneering researcher on galaxy rotation rates and who passed away in 2016.
What is the best way to purchase your new book?
As if all these created works were not enough, Eugene has recently produced a book, which can be purchased at his website: eugenedaub.com/shop. The title is, fittingly, “Eugene Daub; Portraits, Medals, and Monuments”.
The names of the artists who are the drivers behind the creativity, beauty, and inspiration for our coins and medals may be beyond the mainstream for many of us, but their creations are the wonderful works that will always keep our interest.
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