Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Viktor Schreckengost
Polo (Wall Plaque)

1930-31

About the Item

Polo (Wall Plaque) Polychromed ceramic, c. 1930-1931 Signed with the artist's initials: VS recto Cowan Pottery stamp verso References And Exhibitions: Designed by the artist while working for Cowan Pottery in 1930. One of Cowan's clients, an interior designer, requested plates decorated with different outdoor activities. Others in the series included "Swimming," "Tennis," "Golf," and "The Hunt." Condition: with the usual craquelure Size: 11 1/4 inches in diameter Industrial design democratizes high style, and Mr. Schreckengost was widely considered among the most democratic industrial designers. He made, quite literally, the stuff of life — things found routinely in homes, backyards and garages in this country and around the world. He designed bicycles for Sears and everyday china for American Limoges. He designed children’s toys and pedal cars; flashlights, furniture and fans; lawn chairs, lawn mowers and golf carts; baby walkers and artificial limbs. In 2006 Mr. Schreckengost was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the country’s highest cultural honor. His work is in the permanent collection of major museums, including the Renwick Gallery, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr. Schreckengost belonged to the first great generation of American industrial designers, which included luminaries like Russel Wright, Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy. The lights of New York did, however, inspire his most famous piece, the “Jazz” bowl, commissioned by an anonymous client in 1930. Originally trained as a ceramicist, Mr. Schreckengost was then working for the Cowan Pottery Studio in Rocky River, Ohio. One day he picked up what looked like a routine order for a punch bowl with a New York theme. The client, a woman named Eleanor, was delighted with the bowl, Mr. Schreckengost learned. Her husband, Franklin, liked it too. Mrs. Roosevelt, then the first lady of New York State, ordered two more “Jazz” bowls from Mr. Schreckengost, one for her home in Hyde Park, another for a house on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington that she fully expected to occupy in 1933. Widely photographed, the “Jazz” bowls are considered signal examples of Art Deco style. In 2004 Sotheby’s sold one of the $50 bowls at auction for $254,400.
  • Creator:
    Viktor Schreckengost (1906, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1930-31
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 11.25 in (28.58 cm)Diameter: 11.25 in (28.58 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Fairlawn, OH
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: FA73281stDibs: LU14010197462
More From This SellerView All
  • Golf (Wall Plaque)
    By Viktor Schreckengost
    Located in Fairlawn, OH
    Golf (Wall Plaque) Polychromed ceramic, c. 1930-1 Signed with the artist's initials: VS recto Very rare, only a few produced prior to the closure of Cowan Pottery Format: Round ceramic plate, 11 1/4 inches Designed by the artist while working for Cowan Pottery in 1930. One of Cowan's clients, an interior designer, requested plates decorated with different outdoor activities. Others in the series included "Swimming," "Tennis," "Polo," and "The Hunt." According to Henry Adams, the number of examples created was very limited due to the closing of Cowan Pottery in 1931. Very rare Condition: Good, with the usual craquelure of the glazes used. Note: Industrial design democratizes high style, and Mr. Schreckengost was widely considered among the most democratic industrial designers. He made, quite literally, the stuff of life — things found routinely in homes, backyards and garages in this country and around the world. He designed bicycles for Sears and everyday china for American Limoges. He designed children’s toys and pedal cars; flashlights, furniture and fans; lawn chairs, lawn mowers and golf carts; baby walkers and artificial limbs. In 2006 Mr. Schreckengost was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the country’s highest cultural honor. His work is in the permanent collection of major museums, including the Renwick Gallery, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr. Schreckengost belonged to the first great generation of American industrial designers, which included luminaries like Russel Wright, Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy. The lights of New York...
    Category

    1930s Art Deco Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Ceramic

  • Standing Female Nude After Alexander Archipenko Negress (La Negresse)
    By Walt Kuhn
    Located in Fairlawn, OH
    Illustrated: "Walt Kuhn, Painter, His Life and Work, by Phillip Rhys Adams, page 67, plate 27, Courtesy of Kennedy Galleries-Kuhn Estate Kuhn’s sculptures were collected by the noted early modernist collector John Quinn (1870-1924). Among the works in Quinn’s collection was the icon Brancusi Portait of Mlle Pogany, the work that inspired Kuhn to create the wood carving “Mask” (FA10815). Mlle Pogany was chosen by Kuhn for exhibition at the Armory Show, 1913. Other sculptures by Kuhn are in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum and the Heckscher Museum. The group of 15 wood carvings came from the estate of the artist to his daughter Brenda Kuhn. The Kuhn Estate (Brenda) originally worked with Kennedy Galleries of New York who published a detailed illustrated catalog of offerings from the estate in 1967. The estate left Kennedy Galleries some time prior to 1983. They established estate representation with Barridof Galleries of Portland, Maine in partnership with Salander O’Reilly Galleries Inc. of New York. This partnership published a monograph catalog on the artist in 1984. Of our group of 15 works, three of the early c. 1913 examples have Salander O’Reilly labels affixed to them. The group of works were involved in the Salander O’Reilly bankruptcy liquidation where they were bought from. There have been several related examples that have come to auction since the year 2000. In 1912, Kuhn was one of the founders of the organization Association of American Painters and Sculptors, the organizing body for what became known as The Armory Show, 1913. The Heckscher Museum exhibition, European Modernism, as Told by Americans, gives insight in to Kuhn’s travels, artistic associations and the influences on his artwork. “In 1912 Kuhn traveled through Europe securing loans from artists and dealers to represent Impressionism, Post Impressionism and the newer strains of art like Fauvism and Cubism. Inspired by these developments, Kuhn tried out Fauvism and Cubism for himself.” “Kuhn would later become an adviser to collectors like John Quinn and Lillie Bliss, a supporter of the Armory Show and later one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art.” Quinn acquired seven Kuhn sculptures in wood, bronze and gilt bronze which are listed in his estate inventory. This work is directly inspired by an Archipenko sculpture, Negress (La Negresse...
    Category

    1910s Cubist Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Wood

  • untitled (Dancing Figure)
    By Walt Kuhn
    Located in Fairlawn, OH
    Dancing Figure Wood carving with pigment, c. 1913 Unsigned Provenance: Kuhn Heirs, Maine Kennedy Galleries, New York, until 1983 ...
    Category

    1910s Abstract Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Wood

  • Orchestra (or Music)
    By Adolf Dehn
    Located in Fairlawn, OH
    Orchestra (or Music) Lithograph, 1928 Signed, titled and numbered in pencil Edition: 30 This print numbered 15/30 Printed by Edmond Desjobert, Paris Condition: Excellent Provenance: ...
    Category

    1920s American Modern Figurative Prints

    Materials

    Lithograph

  • Minou-Study of Head
    By Will Barnet
    Located in Fairlawn, OH
    Minou-Study of Head Charcoal and pencil on vellum, 1984 Signed and dated in pencil by the artist Minou was Barnet's feline companion throughout many of his most prolific years. It has been said that if you entered Barnet's studio and Minou did not like you Barnet lost interest and dismissed you almost immediately. Provenance: Susan Teller Gallery, prior to 2005 (one of Barnet's friends and dealers) Babcock Galleries, 2005-2008 This drawing is related to a similar composition reproduced in the Richard Boyle catalog for Babcock Galleries. References: Boyle, Will Barnet Drawings, related to works reproduced on pp. 21, 41 (see photo of page 41) Minou is the cat on the back right. Condition: Excellent Stray ink and paint consistent with a working studio drawing Archival framing with DEN Glass (see photo) Image size: 9 x 11 7/8 inches Frame size: 17 x 19 inches Will Barnet Born May 25, 1911, Beverly, Massachusetts, US Died November 13, 2012 (aged 101), New York City, US Will Barnet (May 25, 1911 – November 13, 2012) was an American artist known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent dreamlike worlds. Biography Born in 1911 in Beverly, Massachusetts, Barnet knew by the age of ten that he wanted to be an artist. As a student, he studied with Philip Leslie Hale at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and viewed first-hand John Singer Sargent at work on the murals of the Boston Public Library. In 1930, Barnet studied at the Art Students League of New York, with Stuart Davis and Charles Locke, beginning his long association with the school. Here he concentrated on painting as well as printmaking, and, in 1936, he became the official printer for the Art Students League. There, he later instructed students in the graphic arts at the school and taught alongside the likes of Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Robert Beverly Hale and Richard Pousette-Dart. Barnet influenced a generation of artists, including James Rosenquist, Knox Martin, Emil Milan, Paul Jenkins, Ethel Fisher...
    Category

    1980s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

    Materials

    Charcoal

  • Cows in a Field (Recto) Two Figures in an Interior (Verso)
    By Louis Schanker
    Located in Fairlawn, OH
    Cows in a Field (Recto) Two Figures in an Interior (Verso) Watercolor on heavy textured paper, 1938 Signed in ink verso image of Two Figures, unsigned ...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor

You May Also Like
  • Frog and Swiss on Rye
    By David Gilhooly
    Located in Missouri, MO
    Frog and Swiss on Rye, 1981 By David Gilhooly (1943-2013) 4.75" x 3.5" x 4.5" Whimsical and irreverent, Mr. Gilhooly was internationally acclaimed for his imaginative ceramic works...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Ceramic

  • Burrito Frog
    By David Gilhooly
    Located in Missouri, MO
    Burrito Frog, 1981 By David Gilhooly (1943-2013) 8" x 4" x 2" Signed Underneath Whimsical and irreverent, Mr. Gilhooly was internationally acclaimed for his imaginative ceramic work...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Still-life Sculptures

    Materials

    Ceramic

  • Emiliano Zapata / Frog Revolutionary
    By David Gilhooly
    Located in Missouri, MO
    Emiliano Zapata / Frog Revolutionary, 1981 By David Gilhooly (1943-2013) 20" x 11.5" Whimsical and irreverent, Mr. Gilhooly was internationally accla...
    Category

    20th Century American Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Ceramic

  • Blue Catfish Vase
    By Sasha Makovkin
    Located in Soquel, CA
    A tall, modified columnar vase with incised catfish by Canadian-American ceramist Sasha Makovkin (1928-2003). Made of a white clay body. Glaze in varied shades of gray, blue and green. Signed and titled by the artist including trademark on the bottom: "Makovkin," "Blue Catfish." Dimensions: 14.25 Height x 4.75" Top x 5.13" Base. Northern California potter Sasha Makovkin, originally from Vancouver, B.C. and of Russian descent, moved to California in 1954 to work at Heath Ceramics in Sausalito in order to get industrial experience. During the 1050s, Makovkin exhibited at the Association of San Francisco Potters and at the San Francisco Art Festivals. Five years later after arriving in California, Makovkin took some samples of his ceramics to Gumps, a high-end department store in San Francisco. Impressed with his work, Gumps featured Makovkin’s work in the mail floor exhibits for the next three years. He had periods of apprentice with Marguerite Wildenhein at Pond Farm artists’ colony and with Ross Curtis. He also worked for Edith Heath at Heath Pottery...
    Category

    1990s American Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Glaze, Ceramic

  • LaCroix Jar
    By Rachel Hubbard Kline
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Rachel Hubbard Kline LaCroix Jar Medium: Stoneware, underglaze, glaze Year: 2021 Size: 6 3/4" x 4" x 4" Description: Jar with LaCroix images -------- Rachel Hubbard Kline is an art...
    Category

    2010s American Modern Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Stoneware, Glaze, Underglaze

  • Torso Vessel (Fish Head Woman)
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Jim Leedy “Torso Vessel” (Fish Head Woman) Stoneware Sculpture, Glaze Year: 1979 Size: 34.75 x 16 x 11 Signed COA provided Ref.: 924802-1364 Jim Leedy was a...
    Category

    1970s American Modern Sculptures

    Materials

    Stoneware

Recently Viewed

View All