Diamond Jubilee Medal, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Copied Joseph E. Renier, Diamond Jubilee Medal, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1954, bronze, 2 in. (5.1 cm.) diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Renier, 1967.93.54

Artwork Details

Title
Diamond Jubilee Medal, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Artist
Founder
Medallic Art Company
Date
1954
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
2 in. (5.1 cm.) diam.
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Renier
Mediums
Mediums Description
bronze
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure — fragment — hand
  • Occupation — industry — engineering
  • Object — other — globe
  • Object — art tool — chisel
Object Number
1967.93.54
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1967.93.54

Artwork Description

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers organized in 1880 to promote standards in modern industrial technology. The Diamond Jubilee was a weeklong meeting held in 1955 to celebrate the society’s seventy-fifth anniversary. The globe seen on Joseph Renier’s medal illustrates the theme of the meeting, “The Engineer and the World of Science,” while the entire composition evokes the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who boasted, “Give me a fulcrum and I shall lift the world.”