Viktor Schreckengost Watercolor 1974 American Da Vinci Start Price USD 13,500.00 Current Price USD 13,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, July 17, 2008 End Time Thursday, July 24, 2008 Location Rochester, New York See more about 'Viktor Schreckengost Watercolor 1974 American Da Vinci' Description   Original Superb Musem Quality Painting by   Famous 20th century artist   VIKTOR SCHRECKENGOST (1906-2008)  Major Aerial watercolor - Large Work     1974   for offer Condolences to Family members and friends on the passing of this American icon. With all due respect this listing has been posted for some time with modifications made in light of his passing. An original watercolor by increasing famous American designer VIKTOR SCHRECKENGOST,(1906-2008 ) This stunning work is similar to others the artist has done.It reads as an aerial view snowy winter landscape an expansive view,done with a masters touch.Title unknown although auction tag had "Wintery Landscape" as title.Obtained by myself direct from the estate of CY and Zona Noon,good friends of the artist.He has added an inscription to this couple underneath his distinctive signature.Painted in 1974 this piece has only had the Noon's as owners. Distinctively framed and matted under glare free glass,mat window opening measures 21"h x 29"w. Painting and framing are in excellent condition,no mentionable flaws. Overall framed size 39 1/4"w x 31 1/4"h.Offered as acquired and has not been examined out of framing. Appears that archival materials were used.  As an industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost passed away on Sat Jan 26,2008. His family seeks to preserve his life’s work and the house where it was made.  Viewed from the street, there’s nothing extraordinary or unusual about the house in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where Viktor Schreckengost had lived since 1952. Big, comfortable-looking, and Tudor-esque in inspiration, it’s typical of the expansive homes built in the Cleveland suburbs in the early twentieth century, when the city was a rising industrial powerhouse.  One of America’s most important—and under-recognized—industrial designers. Theirs is a family project aimed at perpetuating Schreckengost’s legacy and gaining the national attention that the exceedingly modest designer,  had never sought for himself. The task is daunting: how do you build a reputation for an important creative thinker who largely has been absent from the history books? Gene Schreckengost, the designer’s second wife, and Chip Nowacek, her son by a previous marriage, have come up with some answers. (Gene and Chip are the aunt and cousin of Metropolis art director Nancy Nowacek.) They’ve incorporated nonprofit and for-profit entities to preserve Schreckengost’s work and intellectual property, and hired a team of researchers to catalog and conserve the contents of his work. Nowacek, who heads the project, had also organized more than 100 small- and large-scale exhibitions across the country last year to celebrate Schreckengost’s 100th birthday, on June 26,2006. He views their work as a way to tell a larger story about his stepfather, whom he sees as a brilliant designer and problem solver who has always been more interested in serving others than in receiving personal attention. “He sort of never got around to taking care of himself,” Nowacek says. “It’s that very attribute that we think is worthy of some notice. Where did all the heroes go? Well, maybe we found one.” Schreckengost had an immense, if anonymous, impact on American life in his 70-year career. He designed everything: trucks, furniture, industrial equipment, dinnerware, military radar systems, printing presses, stoves, refrigerators, collators, machine tools, lawn mowers, lawn furniture, toys, tractors, streetlights, broadcast equipment, gearshift consoles, flashlights, artificial limbs, typesetting machines, coffins, calendars, chairs, electric fans, lenses, logos, bicycles, ball gowns, and baby walkers. But unlike his better-known peers, including Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy, Schreckengost never sought fame. Rather than move to New York, where he would have been more visible, he chose to remain in Cleveland and focus on work and teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art—his real sources of joy. “He never went for self-aggrandizement,” Nowacek says. “I think he viewed it as a distraction.” In 2000, the year of the first major museum exhibition on Schreckengost’s work, he received a citation from the American Institute of Architects when it awarded him a Fine Arts Medal in 1958. Other winners of the award have included Frederick Law Olmsted, Diego Rivera, and John Singer Sargent. “Look at the people on that list,” Schreckengost said modestly. “I just can’t imagine myself being with this group.” Others, of course, have always seen Schreckengost in such company. Henry Adams, a specialist in twentieth-century American art, stumbled upon the designer in 1994 after moving to Cleveland. Following a hunch, Adams recorded six interviews with the designer, a project that led to a 2000 exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Last year (2006),Adams wrote a 250-page catalog to accompany the centennial shows. “Viktor’s design is modern, but it also has a playful quality to it—almost an anthropomorphic quality,” Adams says. “He’s wildly creative.” The family is thinking more broadly about how to preserve Schreckengost’s work and vision. They created the nonprofit Viktor Schreckengost Foundation to fund projects in education, research, and preservation—plus the for-profit Viktor Schreckengost Intellectual Reserve to earn income for the nonprofit ventures by licensing Schreckengost’s designs. (Not a bad idea: in 2004 Sotheby’s sold an original Jazz Bowl, which Schreckengost designed for Eleanor Roosevelt, for $254,400.) A third organization, soon to be created, will carry out educational projects and exhibitions. The Schreckengosts also hired an eight-person staff—registrars, a photographer, a historian, a merchandising expert, and a graphic designer.  The Schreckengosts, true to Viktor’s style, have followed a modest course. For example, last year’s centennial exhibits will be held not only in predictable venues such as art museums and galleries but also in places that have personal meaning for Schreckengost, including Adam’s Barber Shop, in Cleveland Heights, and a restaurant in Captiva, Florida, called the Bubble Room. The family does have a perfect opportunity to create a public museum similar to the Johnson estate. When he was asked what he made of the project to preserve his work and perpetuate his legacy, he said, “He just shakes his head and says, ‘That sounds like a lot of work. He didn't understand what all the fuss is about. We have to pay attention to the things he churned out.   He is the creator of the largest freestanding ceramic sculpture in the world, Early Settler, on permanent display at Lakewood High School in Lakewood, Ohio. He is also famous for his dinnerware designs. Eschewing the fancy, flowery French designs that were popular in the United States during the Great Depression, Schreckengost created simple modern designs that were popular throughout the country. He designed bicycles manufactured by Murray (bicycles) for Murray and Sears, Roebuck and Company. He designed the first cab-over-truck with engineer Ray Spiller. This design is used in almost every city bus today. As noteworthy as each one of these achievements is in its own right, what is most remarkable about Schreckengost is the breadth and volume of his world-class work in both the fine arts and industrial design. He is sometimes known as American da Vinci [1]. Schreckengost was one of six children. His father worked at a ceramics factory from which he brought home clay for his children to model. Every week he held a sculpture contest among the children, the winner of which accompanied his father on his weekend trip into the local big city of Alliance, Ohio. Only years later did Schreckengost realize that his father systematically rotated the winner. Viktor's younger brother, Donald, is also a notable ceramacist and designer. Schreckengost graduated from the college at the Cleveland School of the Arts in 1929 at which time he earned a partial scholarship to study at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. To make the trip, he borrowed $1,500 from two owners of Gem Clay, an industrial ceramics manufacturer in Sebring. When he returned six months later, Schreckengost paid back his loans - a fortuitous event for the men from Gem Clay since separate bank failures during the Great Depression had otherwise wiped them out. Schreckengost taught industrial design at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) for more than 50 years. He was also the youngest faculty member ever at CIA (then known as the Cleveland School of the Arts). Schreckengost founded CIA's renowned school of industrial design, the first of its kind in the country. Schreckengost also enlisted in the Navy at age 37 to help the Allies in World War II. He was flown on secret missions to Europe where he used his modeling knowledge to help improve the radar used in the Battle of the Bulge. Later he helped design prosthetics for wounded soldiers. He retired from the Naval Reserves as a Captain. Schreckengost was also good friends with Cleveland's famed safety director Eliot Ness. In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost's work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a Jazz Bowl. The industrial design portion included many of his famous designs such as safer and cleaner printing presses, economical pedal cars, cab-over-engine trucks, banana-seat bicycles, as well as electric fans and lawn chairs. Then in his 90s, Schreckengost made many personal appearances at the exhibit. Schreckengost lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation had more than 100 exhibits of his work, with at least one in each state,in 2006 to celebrate the milestone. The exhibits opened in March,2006,100 days before his 100th birthday. Schreckengost attended an exhibit in New York City to open the shows. The night before his birthday he was honored at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights by a large and appreciative crowd. Also in 2006, Schreckengost was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor the federal government can bestow on an American artist. He and the nine other winners were feted in an Oval Office ceremony by President George W. Bush and the First Lady on Nov. 9, 2006.       Place a Bid!