{
"data": {
"id": 162155,
"accession_number": "2001.85",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Leda and the Swan, 1931. Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906\u20132008), Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920\u20131931). Glazed earthenware with engobe, sgraffito; diameter: 41.5 cm (16 5/16 in.); overall: 6.9 cm (2 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Gene and Viktor Schreckengost in honor of the museum staff, 2001.85",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Leda and the Swan",
"creation_date": "1931",
"creation_date_earliest": 1931,
"creation_date_latest": 1931,
"artists_tags": [
"male",
"May Show",
"Cleveland Institute of Art (alumni)",
"Cleveland School",
"Cleveland Institute of Art (faculty)"
],
"culture": [
"America, Ohio, Cleveland"
],
"technique": "glazed earthenware with engobe, sgraffito",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Decorative Art and Design",
"collection": "Decorative Arts",
"type": "Ceramic",
"measurements": "Diameter: 41.5 cm (16 5/16 in.); Overall: 6.9 cm (2 11/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"diameter": {
"width": 0.415,
"width_inch": 16,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.3125
},
"overall": {
"height": 0.069,
"height_inch": 2,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.6875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "on underside of plate: \"Viktor Schreckengost\" / \"Cowan Pottery\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 382023,
"title": "The May Show: 14th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen",
"description": "The May Show: 14th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-June 5, 1932).",
"opening_date": "1932-04-27T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 189020,
"title": "Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-century Design",
"description": "Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-century Design. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 12, 2000-February 4, 2001).",
"opening_date": "2000-11-12T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 177916,
"title": "Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age",
"description": "Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 28-July 18, 2004).",
"opening_date": "2004-03-28T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; November 12, 2000 - February 4, 2001. \"Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-Century Design\" exh. cat. no. 32, p. 163, color repr. p. 44.",
"opening_date": "2000-11-12T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; March 28 - July 18, 2004. \"Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age\", no exhibition catalogue.",
"opening_date": "2004-03-28T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Viktor Schreckengost's career bridges the fields of industrial design, product design, the fine arts, and teaching. His designs include such everyday items as dinnerware, bicycles, pedal cars, lawn furniture, printing presses, stage sets, and outdoor lighting systems. As the son of a potter, Schreckengost has always had a natural affinity for clay. In 1930, he began exhibiting ceramic objects at the annual May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art. At first he focused on plates and vessels, which, as seen here, he decorated with bold, modern designs. This is one of a series of large ceramic plates that Schreckengost produced shortly after his return to Cleveland from a year of study in Vienna. In Greek mythology Leda was one of the mortal women loved by Zeus, king of the gods. Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan. For this plate Schreckengost used a challenging technique called sgraffito, which did not allow him to make changes or corrections. To create the design, he scratched through a surface covering of black engobe (clay mixed with glaze) to the white ceramic underneath.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79985883"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Basset, Mark and Naumann, Victoria. Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland School. Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1997. pp. 314-5.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Viktor Schreckengost Entry Card to 1932 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMS02638"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cNew Acquisitions Now on View at the CMA,\u201d July 11, 2001, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4396"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2001.85",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Gift of Gene and Viktor Schreckengost in honor of the museum staff",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 162155,
"creators": [
{
"id": 18616,
"description": "Viktor Schreckengost (American, 1906\u20132008)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "designed by",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1906",
"death_year": "2008",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
},
{
"id": 681237,
"description": "Cowan Pottery Studio (America, Rocky River, Ohio, 1920\u20131931)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "made at",
"biography": "The Cowan Pottery Studio was founded by R. Guy Cowan in Lakewood, Ohio, United States in 1912. It moved to Rocky River, Ohio in 1920, and operated until 1931, when the financial stress of the Great Depression resulted in its bankruptcy. Cowan Pottery produced both artistic and commercial work in a variety of styles influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Deco, Chinese ceramics, and modern sculpture.
During its two decades of operation, a number of well-known Cleveland School artists worked with Cowan at the studio: Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur Eugene Baggs, Alexander Blazys, Paul Bogatay, Edris Eckhardt, Waylande Gregory, A. Drexler Jacobson, Raoul Josset, Paul Manship, Jos\u00e9 Martin, Herman Matzen, F. Luis Mora, Elmer L. Novotny, Margaret Postgate, Stephen Rebeck, Guy L. Rixford, Viktor Schreckengost, Elsa Vick Shaw, Walter Sinz, Frank N. Wilcox, H. Edward Winter, and Thelma Frazier Winter. With the exception of Guy Cowan, himself, Waylande Gregory designed more pieces for the pottery than anyone else. Among Cowan's finest pieces were three limited edition figures relating to dance, including \"Salome\" (1928), \"The Nautch Dancer,\" (1930), and \"The Burlesque Dancer,\" (1930). For the last two, Gregory made sketches from the side of the stage of the well-known Ziegfeld Follies star, Gilda Grey, when she was performing in Cleveland.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 2
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2001-06-04T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1931,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1931",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-06-10 19:55:37.576000"
}
}