Joel Iskowitz has had a profound impact on United States coin designs. In fact, 54 of Joel’s designs grace the obverse or reverse of numerous United States Mint coins or Congressional medals. In addition, Joel has created wonderful coins and rounds for numerous companies such as APMEX and the East India Company.
ABOUT JOEL ISKOWITZ
Iskowitz was born in 1946 in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City. As a youngster, Joel always had an interest in drawing and designs. Little did he know how well-received his designs would be and how they would take him all over the world. In 1964, Joel graduated from the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music and Art, which is in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He went on to graduate with a degree in Fine Arts from Hunter College, in New York City, in 1968.
After graduation, Joel knew he wanted to use his artistic abilities, but like most young people, he wasn’t sure exactly how he would do that. Beyond being able to draw and create images that people would be able to recognize, Joel liked to create images that told a story. That was his passion – a narrative artist.
After earning a summer scholarship to Yale, Joel attended but became disillusioned with his professors who favored abstract art. Joel, always a strong-willed individual, vastly preferred classical arts and artists. He believed these classical designs would stand the test of time, as the works of classical artists from the Renaissance period are still popular and well-known today.
ACHIEVING SUCCESS
The life of an artist seldom offers instantaneous success.
Joel left no stone unturned in his quest to be a professional artist, from illustrating book covers for young adult and historical romance novels to designing covers for rock albums to doing portraits in San Francisco.
Sometime later, Joel uncovered the opportunity to become a postage stamp artist. He brought his attention to detail and his ability to create miniature works of art to these stamps. Joel designed more than 2,000 different stamps representing 40 different countries. From exotic animals to Mother Teresa, Gandhi, President Kennedy and Princess Diana, Joel brought to life depictions of the famous and the unknown. This was rewarding work that paid the bills, but he longed for more.
WORKING FOR THE U.S. MINT
In 2003, the United States Mint established a new program called the Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) to bring the work of talented artists from varied backgrounds to influence and enhance its engravers as they developed coin and medal designs.
The U.S. Mint conducted a Call for Artists in 2005 and on the last day of eligibility, Joel applied. He was selected to join the program.
Within that first year, as an AIP member, Joel designed the reverse of the 2006 American Eagle Platinum Bullion coin. The reverse depicted an allegorical representation of the ‘Legislative Muse’ which symbolized the laws of the United States. The Muse was seated next to two eagles perched on separate Corinthian columns. Those columns were designed to represent the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
INTERPRETING THE GREATS
This coin would be the first of five reverses in the American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coin Proof series that Joel would design. The reason for his immediate and overwhelming success was that Joel did his best to design these coins as he believes that the classical American coin designers would design them. He studied the designs of August Saint-Gaudens, James Earle Fraser, Victor David Brenner, Adolf Weinman and Hermon Atkins MacNeil to understand their interpretations of our coinage.
Joel always tries to create what he calls a timeless design. “Classical designs withstand the test of time. They are always going to be beautiful,” Joel stated. “Remember, classical designs are not from a particular era. Modern designs need not be a break from the past.”
Reviewing Joel’s ‘Icons of Inspiration’ series, created for APMEX, the common obverse is his allegorical interpretation of the Goddess Astra – the Goddess of Inspiration. Studying Joel’s design of Astra, one finds it is at least equal to some of the icons of numismatics such as Adolf Weinman’s Walking Liberty Half Dollar or other allegorical figures.
Joel’s success with the United States Mint was evident as he created a litany of wonderful designs.
- Five American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coin Proofs
- Eight Silver or Clad Modern Commemorative Coins
- Eight America the Beautiful Quarter Dollars
- Ten First Spouse Gold Coins
- Four Presidential Dollar Coins
- Fourteen Congressional Gold Medals
- One of the Four 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial Cent Reverses
2009 LINCOLN CENT BICENTENNIAL
One of his often-overlooked designs has had more copies struck than all the rest of his designs put together – the reverse design for the 2009 Lincoln Cent Bicentennial. There were four different reverse designs honoring different aspects of Abraham Lincoln’s life. Joel designed the third one in the series – the professional life. It portrays Lincoln as a young legislator standing in front of the State Capitol of Illinois. This is the period of his life as a lawyer and fledgling politician. In all finishes and from all branch mints, the United States Mint struck nearly 685 million copies of Iskowitz’s work.
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ARTIST
The United States Mint is not the only governmental agency with which Iskowitz is associated. Joel is also an active United States Air Force artist. Several of his pertinent oil paintings are in the Air Force’s permanent collection including a mural on display at Wright-Patterson Air Force base. This exact mural had previously adorned the entryway to the Department of the Air Force at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Additionally, he has been twice invited to artistically document a pair of Space Shuttle missions and his artwork is part of the permanent collection at NASA at the Kennedy Space Center Museum.
Joel stated that his years of service as an Air Force Artist, while pro bono, were vital to his ability to enrich his understanding of the people, places and events that shaped our world. His travels to China, Burma, India, and to the beaches of Normandy shaped his artworks for the United States Air Force.
Joel designed both the obverse and reverse of the New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal which was presented to the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Mercury astronaut and Senator John Glenn. Senator Glenn later nominated Iskowitz to receive the National Medal of the Arts.
INTERNATIONAL DESIGNS
When Joel left the AIP program, he looked to expand his portfolio and influence internationally. Joel had already received international acclaim for his stamp designs for 40 countries. He became the first and only American to have his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II grace a coin struck for Trista da Cunha, a member of the British Overseas Territory and part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. He was also the only American artist to have designed the Buckingham Palace-approved portraits of King Charles III, the Queen Mother and Price William.
Joel was a keynote speaker at the Shanghai Coin Design Forum and focused on using art and coin design as an ambassador of international goodwill and understanding.
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
Joel met with the venerable East India Company of London (EIC). EIC was originally granted a Royal charter in 1600 by Queen Elizabeth I and it became one of the most important trading companies in the world.
Through EIC’s direct efforts, trade was opened with the Spice Islands, India, Japan and China. EIC was responsible for introducing tea not only to the English world but also to the monarchy. They gifted tea to King Charles II in 1664, foreshadowing how important it would become in British culture. The company traded heavily with China and brought not only tea, but silks, porcelain and spices to the Western world.
In colonial America, the 1773 Tea Act established its monopoly on the tea trade in the British Empire. Resistance to the Tea Act was responsible for the Boston Tea Party, in the Massachusetts Bay colony when 243 chests of the company’s tea were thrown into Boston Harbor in protest of the tax. That was one of the seminal events of the start of the War for American Independence.
The EIC continued to flourish until 1874 when the company was dissolved and Queen Victoria became the Empress of India. In 2005, the company was brought back to life by a Mumbai entrepreneur, Sanjiv Mehta. He saw the opportunity for the East India Company to trade once again.
The 21st Century East India Company is a worldwide company offering teas, biscuits, chocolates, coffees and collections of beautifullydesigned coins. Keeping in the spirit of the rich history of the Company, EIC offers a variety of artistic coins.
JOEL’S EIC DESIGNS
Joel Iskowitz is currently in the process of creating coin designs for two continuity series. One of his highly-acclaimed series is for the important characters in Edmund Spencer’s epic poem – “The Faerie Queene.”
Comprising six books and over 36,000 lines, it is one of the longest poems in the English language. The poem encompasses what is believed to be an allegory of the life of Queen Elizabeth I. Heroic knights, castles, dragons and a beautiful princess all stir the imagination.
“At The East India Company, we love working with Joel and witnessing his stunning designs come to life. He has enchanted the numismatic world with his breathtaking illustrations for our Faerie Queene collection,” said Joanna Mould, the Managing Director of the East India Company Collections. “With his artistic brilliance, Joel has skillfully breathed life into Edmund Spenser’s epic poem, transporting us to a realm where beauty, magic and courage intertwine. Each coin in the series is a testament to Joel’s extraordinary talent, capturing the essence of the Faerie Queene’s enchanting characters with remarkable precision and grace. Through his artistry, Joel has not only created a collection of exquisite coins but has given us a tangible portal to a world of wonder and imagination.”
Another important series that Joel has created for EIC is the Goddesses Series. This series encompasses allegorical women throughout history. First in the series was Hera, the Goddess of Family, Children and Women.
Hera was followed by Eos, Goddess of the Dawn. She is shown riding in her golden chariot ushering in the warm glow of a new dawn. She is pulled across the heavens by her magnificent team of horses including ‘Daybright’ and ‘Firebright.’
“With meticulous artistry, Joel brings to life the heroic personas of Hera and Eos in our Goddesses collection, two powerful and revered goddesses of ancient mythology. Each coin in the series is a testa ment to Joel’s ability to capture the essence of divine beauty and grace, as he masterfully illustrates the regal splendor of Hera and the radiant allure of Eos,” Mould continued. “Through his talent, Joel has not only immortalized these goddesses but has given us a valuable connection to their timeless presence.”
While the Faerie Queene and the Goddesses Series are existing series with continuing additions, Joel’s new EIC project celebrates the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
“We are very excited to work with Joel on this project to commemorate such a momentous occasion in history. We are confident that with his intricate level of detail and mastery of illustration, Joel will do justice to this special anniversary and create future keepsakes for our collectors,” said Mould.
Although many artists would look at Joel’s decades-long body of work and be perfectly content to sit on their laurels, that is not how Joel Iskowitz thinks. He continues to build his lifelong portfolio of artistic masterpieces to enchant yet another generation of coin collectors who appreciate classic coin designs.