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Béni Ferenczy introduced a completely new approach into Hungarian medal art. He chose as his ideal the Renaissance, the greatest period of medal art, and made large cast and chiselled medals. From the very beginning his style was quite different from that of his contemporaries. Right from the start he constantly developed his forceful, monumental, yet painterly style, through a constructivist period to his fully matured style of the fifties.
The obverse of his 1936 "Béla Bartók" medal shows the left profile of the world-famous composer. It was not easy task to portray his fine features and forceful character. This is apparent even from photographs, as no two show an identical character. The reason for this is probably Bartók's complex and sensitive personality. Ferenczy's portrait of the composer is perhaps the most authentic of all known representations. The golden russet of the bronze shines on the contours of the congenial head. The modelling is sensitive, yet the hard face and tightly compressed lips express the uncompromising character of the sitter. The reverse bears a quotation from Ady, "One starts from a rivulet and runs down into the great sacred ocean". The unique calligraphy frames a wide landscape in low relief showing the stream of life coming down from the distant mountains to the open expanse of the ocean.
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