Viktor to be honored by the Cleveland Artists Foundation

2006 Annual Benefit Plans Announced

Viktor will be the featured artist at the 2006 Annual Benefit of the Cleveland Artists Foundation, according to Tom Berger, Gallery Manager. The Cleveland Artists Foundation (CAF), founded in 1984, is a non-profit regional art history organization that explicitly exhibits and collects the works of northeast Ohio artists.

"The benefit is used to highlight the artist’s career," explains Tom. A small exhibition is planned for the benefit. Greetings from the Schreckengosts will showcase the greeting cards and bowls sent by Viktor and his wife every Christmas beginning in the 1930s.

"The exhibition will show the way they interacted with friends and family," says Tom. William Busta, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at CAF, will mount the show.

"Viktor started doing his own greeting cards as a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the 1920s," explains Foundation archivist Craig Bara. "It was very common then to do woodcuts and then stamp them onto paper. CIA has two boxes full of student and faculty greeting cards." In addition to the woodcut cards, Viktor produced small ceramic plates that he used as greeting cards. During World War II, he also created holiday cards for Murray to send to their employees. In the 1950s, he joined the American Artists’ Group, through which he marketed scores of cards until the 1990s.

Viktor has been an important contributor to CAF over the years, says Tom. "He is on the honorary board of directors and has made a number of donations to past benefits. He attends exhibitions when he is available, especially if he’s included in one." A number of Viktor’s pieces—and a few pieces by other artists that Viktor donated—are part of the permanent collection.

The location and exact date of the 2006 Benefit are yet to be determined. We’ll keep you posted!

Visit the Cleveland Artists Foundation website.