Artwork Details
- Title
- Parkman Coupe
- Artist
- Date
- 1988
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 17 1⁄4 x 10 x 10 in. (43.8 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm)
- Copyright
- © 1988, Dan Dailey
- Credit Line
- Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman
- Mediums Description
- glass and bronze
- Classifications
- Object Number
- 1999.89.5
Artwork Description
Dailey's Parkman Coupe celebrates Dr. Paul Parkman's contribution to the first successful vaccine against rubella, or German measles. Words from a letter written by President Lyndon B. Johnson to Dr. Parkman in 1966 circle the coupe's rim: "Few men . . . directly . . . advance human welfare, save precious lives, and offer new hope to the world."
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
Paul and Elmerina Parkman commissioned Parkman Coupe after viewing the Pasteur Coupe, a commemorative vase presented to Louis Pasteur. Parkman Coupe commemorates Dr. Paul Parkman’s contribution to the first successful vaccine against rubella, or German measles. Here, Dr. Parkman holds a flask of the vaccine at the moment of discovery as his colleague Dr. Henry M. Meyer vaccinates a child. Inscribed below the rim is part of a letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson: “Few men . . . directly . . . advance human welfare, save precious lives and bring new hope to the world.”