"Great Moments in Pharmacy" Art Collection

STATEMENT

Since 2007, the Art Gallery at APhA headquarters has been home to “Great Moments in Pharmacy,” a collection of paintings by artist Robert Thom that depicts the evolution of pharmacy through the years. The American Pharmacists Association Foundation is the caretaker of this priceless collection, a treasure for the profession. Individuals and corporations are invited to consider sponsoring one of the paintings that is available for sponsorship. This is a unique recognition opportunity for donors to connect with a piece of pharmacy’s history that is personally or professionally meaningful, or to honor someone else by sponsoring a painting in his or her name.

About the Paintings

From the exhibit halls of the Smithsonian Institution, Denver Institute of Arts, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oriental Institute of Chicago, and Hotel des Invalides in Paris, and now on permanent display in the Art Gallery of the APhA Headquarters Building, is the Great Moments in Pharmacy series, a collection of paintings depicting a comprehensive history of pharmacy by artist Robert Thom (1915-1979).

The collection totals 40 prints, all of which were completed in the early 1950s by the Michigan-born Thom, a graduate of the Institute of Fine Arts in Columbus, Ohio. A gift from Pfizer to the APhA Foundation in 2007, the collection depicts the impressive storyline of pharmacy and its impact on patient care.The first 16 paintings in the Great Moments in Pharmacy series pay tribute to the accomplishments of the apothecaries and their predecessors in Babylon, China, Egypt, Persia and Europe. The remaining 24 paintings are devoted to pharmacy in the Americas, especially in the English colonies and the United States including coverage of the history of the American Pharmacists Association.

Sponsortship and Recognition

The Foundation’s "Great Moments in Pharmacy" campaign provides the opportunity to sponsor one of these exemplary paintings. The Foundation is greatly appreciative to Dr. and Mrs. Walter and Diane Chambliss and Phi Delta Chi for their sponsorship of a "Great Moment in Pharmacy" painting in 2012. Both chose to sponsor a painting of personal significance from this remarkable art collection. Click here to view sponsored paintings.

To obtain permission to reprint or reuse the images without the watermark please contact Copyright Clearance Center.