Panama-Pacific International Exposition Metal

Panama-Pacific International Exposition Metal

This metal was created by the committee of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. On one side it reads "Panama-Pacific International Exposition San Francisco Metal of Award MCMXV [1915]". The building in the middle of the words appears to be the Tower of Jewels, one of the prominent buildings of the Exposition. On the other side of the metal there are two nude figures, one male and one female. They appear strong and healthy, seemingly allegorical figures representing the progress of America. As Moore writes in Empire on Display, the man used in much of the imagery associated with this Exposition is reminicient of Hercules, both visually and symplically. Further proof of this connection appears in the Latin phrase inscribed below the figures on the metal, which reads "What God has Divided, Man Joins”. This is a reference to the Panama Canal, the feat of technology celebrated at the Exposition. By constructing a waterway through Panama, American was able to connect the east and west in hitertho unheard of ways. The implications of the newfound ease of travel were inmense and long lasting. This metal serves as a physical artifact commemorating the impact of the Panama Canal for prosperity. 

Maddie Arnold-Scerbo

John Flanagan

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Smithsonian American Art Museum

1915