From Viktor’s Attic

St. Peter and untitled bather sculptures found

From Viktor’s Attic: St. Peter and The Bather

St. Peter

Foundation archivist Craig Bara does not often need to reference the Bible at work, but recently he was found pondering the 26th chapter of Matthew. He was trying to gain insight into one of two sculptures he found this month in Viktor’s attic. Craig describes the find: "I was pulling boxes off a shelving unit, and behind the unit I saw a half door leading to a storage unit under the eaves. I moved everything out of the way, opened the door, and there he was looking right at me. I had no idea who he was. There was just this face peering at me with a rooster behind him."

The work in question is a ceramic sculpture of a man’s head, with a rooster perched above it. The entire sculpture stands about 24 inches tall, and a tag attached to the back reads "St. Peter, 33rd May Show, 1951."

Admirers of Viktor’s work may know his sculpture Peter the Fisherman, which depicts the venerable Christian apostle looking skyward, arms raised and holding up a net full of fish. This sculpture was exhibited at the 2004 show The Religious Works of Viktor Schreckengost in Kirtland, Ohio. It expresses an exultant feeling, perhaps reminiscent of the religious zeal Viktor witnessed or felt at the annual Sebring Campground Holiness revival meetings he attended as a child. The raised arms and directed gaze imply that the bursting harvest of fish is being offered to God. The apostle is captured at his most faithful.

The newly-found sculpture shows an entirely different Peter. This is a man in the moment of sudden realization that he has betrayed his friend and Teacher. On the night before his murder, Jesus warned Peter, who was prone to passionate declarations of loyalty, that "before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." Peter responded, appalled, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." Jesus was arrested and Peter followed him around during the night, lurking in the shadows to observe his master’s treatment. Peter was asked by bystanders three times if he was a friend of Jesus’ and each time he responded negatively. After the third denial, "immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, ’Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.’ And he went out, and wept bitterly."

St. Peter, closeup on face

The sculpture shows the rooster with its beak open wide in the act of crowing. Peter’s eyes are wide and his head cocked toward the sound. As Craig studied the piece, he noticed the glaze. "It’s gray and running or dripping down his face. I didn’t know what Viktor meant by that." Craig took the piece to Viktor and asked him about it.

By way of reply, Viktor immediately pointed out that the glaze on the rooster is different—"more opaque"—than the glaze on Peter’s face. "St. Peter is more transparent. I wanted to make people interpret his face."

"Viktor was raised in the Methodist church," says Craig. "His family was very religious. I often find religious tracts or pamphlets in boxes in the attic. But Viktor had his own way of expressing his belief in God. He expressed it in his art, as we see in this piece, and Peter the Fisherman, and Jonah and the Whale. With Jonah, you see the more humorous side." But in this work, notes Craig, Viktor considers one of the weightiest subjects in Christendom: loyalty to Jesus.

Viktor looks on as archivist Craig Bara shows him the rediscovered sculpture, an untitled nude bather

A second sculpture, entirely different in theme, was found with St. Peter. This untitled piece Craig refers to as "Nude Bather." "She’s a rough terracotta, unglazed, about the same height as St. Peter," describes Craig. "She was wrapped in string and newspaper that literally fell apart as I opened it. She is a pear-shaped woman, with a slight exaggeration of her figure. She looks a lot like another sculpture, a humorous one of a sunbather wearing sunglasses that’s in Viktor’s library." But this "Nude Bather" is earthier, with a slightly rough texture to her skin despite the smooth lines of her overall shape. She is not labeled. "The woman has a very 1940s look about her," says Craig, who judges that she was probably created about the same time as the St. Peter who has kept her company for perhaps 50 years. "It’s a bit scandalous, don’t you think?" he remarks with a grin. "The leading apostle of the Christian world keeping company in a dark attic room for so long with an unclothed woman." Certainly a juxtaposition consistent with Viktor’s own sense of humor! It would not have been unlike him to make a similar remark when he packed the two figures away so many years ago.