Pirkko Viitasalo (1946-2009)

Ms Pirkko Viitasalo, the Finnish sculptor, died on 29th June at the age of 62. She was a leading Finnish medal artist who won twice the annual art medal competition of the Guild of Medallic Art. The Lisbon Mint awarded her  Give Peace a Chance  the prize for the best cast medal at FIDEM XXIX Seixal in 2004. She was also awarded the first prizes for other national competitions that were arranged to celebrate famous Finnish persons. In 2007 she was awarded the first prize for the jubilee medal of the 90th anniversary of Finland as an independent country.

Pirkko Viitsalo was also a many-sided painter, sculptor and goldsmith. We all remember Pirkko Viitasalo as a most positive professional who promoted medallic art in Finland for many decades in an understandable and happy way.

Ilkka Voionmaa

Gunvor Svensson Lundkvist (1916-2009)

The Swedish painter, sculptor and medal artist, Gunvor Svensson Lundkvist died on May 6, 2009. She was a member of FIDEM for many years and exhibited during several congresses.

As a medal artist she is mostly known for the design and execution of the Nobel Prize medal in Economy. The Bank of Sweden celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1968 and made a donation for this occasion for "The Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel". The medal however was made in a hurry since the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had forgotten that they had to make a new medal for the prize. Gunvor Svensson Lundkvist just had a few days to do the modelling.