Meet Viktor Schreckengost. Designer. Artist. Teacher. Ceramicist. Patriot. Icon.

Viktor Schreckengost was a driving force behind modern industrial design throughout the 20th century. His work spans a remarkably wide range, including the automotive, ceramic, furniture, recreational, military, print production, and electronics fields.

It is estimated that every adult in the United States has handled, used, driven, worn, played with, ridden in, collected or otherwise enjoyed objects designed by Viktor Schreckengost or one of his students. While the tally is far from complete, Viktor’s impact on the American economy is estimated to exceed $200 billion. In addition, Viktor Schreckengost has created a significant body of work as a sculptor, ceramist and painter. His fine art pieces number over 1500, cover diverse subjects in several media, and appear in major museums and private collections all over America. Some of his works, like the Jazz Bowl, are considered seminal creations that capture the life and history of our nation.

Pulling Back the Curtains As close as America has come to claiming her own Leonardo DaVinci, Viktor spent his career largely unknown among the general public and insiders in the art community. He focused his energies on his work and not self promotion.

With Viktor’s 100th birthday fast approaching (June 26th, 2006), the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation, with the enthusiastic support of some of the most powerful and influential designers in America, has dedicated itself to educating the nation on the life, accomplishments and influences of this true master of 20th-century art and design.

Career Highlights • Designed the Jazz Bowl, one of the most celebrated icons of the Art Deco era. Commissioned in 1930 by Eleanor Roosevelt and costing $50, today a Jazz Bowl is worth over $250,000. • Created best selling dinnerware designs for America’s top ceramics companies that forever changed consumer accessibility to beautiful, durable design. • Exhibited and won awards for 75 years in major museums across the country. • Applied problem-solving talents in radar object recognition and terrain mapping that contributed to the Allied victory in World War II. • Founded the first Industrial Design program in the United States.

What’s newsworthy about Viktor now? • As his legacy becomes better understood, Viktor’s work is increasingly exhibited in museums throughout the country, including a major retrospective traveling exhibition that will open at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio in early 2007. • Viktor turns 99 this year (2005), an accomplishment in its own right. He looks back on a career that spanned three-quarters of a century. During that time, he not only saw many tremendous changes in American culture: he shaped them. His advanced years have not dimmed his mind, but only added the unique perspective of a near centenarian to his creative mind, sharp observational skills, and gentle sense of humor. • The Viktor Schreckengost Foundation perpetuates the humanitarian and educational values held by Viktor by developing curriculum to encourage youth to develop their art, design, and entrepreneurial talents. • The third printing of Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-Century Design by Henry Adams is now available. This book, the most complete treatment of Viktor’s life and works to date, sold out its two previous printings. • See additional recent news releases from the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation.