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Nov 5, 2008

Four Seasons Vase

1931–32

designer

Viktor Schreckengost

(American, 1906–2008)

made at

Cowan Pottery Studio

(American, Ohio, Rocky River, 1912–1931)

America, Ohio, Cleveland

Earthenware

Diameter: 20.4 cm (8 1/16 in.); Overall: 29.6 cm (11 5/8 in.)

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1932.964

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Cleveland ceramicist and industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost produced this vase after returning from a year of study in Vienna. The Cleveland Museum of Art exhibited and purchased it within a year of its creation, giving his new style immediate exposure.

Description

Although Viktor Schreckengost was introduced to new ideas in Vienna through the teaching of Michael Powolny and others, the exhibition and acquisition of Dina Kuhn’s Das Wasser (Water) by the Cleveland Museum of Art before his departure in 1929 reveals that he may have already seen Viennese portrait design in his hometown.

Artist biography

Cowan Pottery Studio

The Cowan Pottery Studio was founded by R. Guy Cowan in Lakewood, Ohio, United States in 1912. It moved to Rocky River, Ohio in 1920, and operated until 1931, when the financial stress of the Great Depression resulted in its bankruptcy. Cowan Pottery produced both artistic and commercial work in a variety of styles influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Deco, Chinese ceramics, and modern sculpture.

During its two decades of operation, a number of well-known Cleveland School artists worked with Cowan at the studio: Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur Eugene Baggs, Alexander Blazys, Paul Bogatay, Edris Eckhardt, Waylande Gregory, A. Drexler Jacobson, Raoul Josset, Paul Manship, José Martin, Herman Matzen, F. Luis Mora, Elmer L. Novotny, Margaret Postgate, Stephen Rebeck, Guy L. Rixford, Viktor Schreckengost, Elsa Vick Shaw, Walter Sinz, Frank N. Wilcox, H. Edward Winter, and Thelma Frazier Winter. With the exception of Guy Cowan, himself, Waylande Gregory designed more pieces for the pottery than anyone else. Among Cowan's finest pieces were three limited edition figures relating to dance, including "Salome" (1928), "The Nautch Dancer," (1930), and "The Burlesque Dancer," (1930). For the last two, Gregory made sketches from the side of the stage of the well-known Ziegfeld Follies star, Gilda Grey, when she was performing in Cleveland.

Inscriptions

Inscription

on bottom: "Viktor Schreckengost."

Citations

Viktor Schreckengost Entry Card to 1932 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Hoffman, Jay, Dee Driscole, and Mary Clare Zahler. A Study in Regional Taste: The May Show, 1919-1975. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977.
Published as: 964.32 Reproduced: P. 54, no. 59; Mentioned: P. 79, no. 59

Exhibition history

Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; November 12, 2000 - February 4, 2001. "Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-Century Design" exh. cat. no. 30, p. 163, color repr. p. 43.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY (4/7/2017 - 8/20/2017) and The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH (9/30/2017 - 1/14/2018): "The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s"

The May Show: 14th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 5, 1932).

Art Deco. Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 1, 1971).

Art Deco. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH (organizer) (December 2, 1973-January 27, 1974).

Art Deco. Beck Center for the Arts, Lakewood, OH (organizer) (September 7-October 15, 1979).

The Cleveland Institute of Art: 100 Years. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 22, 1982-January 30, 1983).

Craft in the Machine Age: European Influences on American Modernism, 1920-1945. American Craft Museum (organizer) (October 19, 1995-February 25, 1996); Fort Wayne Museum of Art (September 7-November 3, 1996); Akron Art Museum (January 25-March 30, 1997); Milwaukee Art Museum (June 15-August 15, 1997); Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art (September 1-November 30, 1997).

Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-century Design. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 12, 2000-February 4, 2001).

The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY (April 7-August 20, 2017); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30, 2017-January 14, 2018).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Four Seasons Vase|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1932.964|author=Viktor Schreckengost|year=1931–32|access-date=01 June 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Four Seasons Vase

Four Seasons Vase

Viktor Schreckengost

Cowan Pottery Studio

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Cowan Pottery Studio

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