The Jazz Series

It was in the midst of this uncertainty that Schreckengost created his now famous icons of American Art Deco. The fi rst three New Yorker R. Guy Cowan was a 1908 alumnus of the New hired a few former students to work as full-time bowls were created in York School of Clay-working and Ceramics designers. response to requests at Alfred University. By 1913 he had built the from Eleanor Roosevelt. network and fi nancial backing necessary to start In 1930 Schreckengost was studying ceramics as They were large—even what would become the Cowan Pottery, initially a post-graduate student in Vienna under Michael for punch bowls—at focusing on tile contracts. After being drafted Powolny when he accepted an employment offer about 17” across and into a World War I project to develop higher developed by Guy Cowan: upon returning to the 12” high. Inspired by quality charcoal for gas masks, Cowan returned US, he divided his time between working as a his trips to Manhattan, to his pottery with an eye toward mass production staff designer in the Cowan Pottery studio and Schreckengost scratched of artistic wares. Several factors contributed serving as an instructor at the Cleveland School them with New York to his success, including experimentation with of Art (now Cleveland Institute of Art). themes: soaring buildings glaze and slip methods, innovations in casting and jazz motifs, ocean liners and fi ring, and working in a market larger than By the end of the 20s, in addition to producing and café scenes. He fi nished a few wealthy patrons. Cowan Pottery produced limited-edition sculptures by artists like A. them with a cobalt blue glaze a variety of fi gural fl ower holders, vases, bowls, Drexler Jacobson, F. Luis Mora, Paul Manship, to capture the “funny blue light ash trays, candlesticks, bookends, sculptures, and and Margaret Postgate, Cowan had taught and/or in New York in 1931 when Cab other art pottery objects that today are highly collaborated with many of the artists destined to Calloway’s band was playing.” He sought-after pieces. become the “Who’s Who” of Cleveland artists in originally called them New Year’s Eve the early 20th century—including Russell Barnett in New York, but Cowan retitled them New The 1920s was a period of continuing expansion Aitken, Alexander Blazys, Paul Bogatay, Edris Yorker. Now known commonly as Jazz Bowls, for Cowan’s pottery, with a move to a new Eckhardt, Thelma Frazier (Winter), Waylande these were a striking vision of New York City in the facility in Rocky River and a burgeoning staff Gregory, Viktor Schreckengost, and Walter Sinz. Jazz Age. that peaked over 40 in 1930, the same time that Though this was a period of intense creative a new display room was constructed. Also an collaboration, it was also Cowan’s darkest hour as The response to these fi rst bowls caused Schreckengost to create an entire Jazz Series, a collection of bowls instructor in ceramics at the Cleveland School the Depression took its toll on small businesses. In and plates bearing icons that depict the excitement of the jazz culture—dancers, instruments, cigarettes, of Art, Cowan encouraged his most talented December 1930 the studio received a bankruptcy cocktail glasses, music notes, and bright lights—and fi nished in Egyptian Blue Crackle glaze. The series hit students to spend time on Saturdays at the order, and one year later, after focusing in 1930 the market boasting at least 11 unique objects. Despite their taboo subject matter in an era of Prohibition, pottery studying fi rsthand the workings of an art and 1931 on innovative attempts to repay the several went into production. Schreckengost would etch the design onto the bowls and plates and supervise pottery manufactory. After their graduation, he fi rm’s creditors, the pottery closed its doors. the decorators who completed the fi ll work.

2 3 Into Obscurity And Rediscovery The letter suggests that, while Schreckengost Kripke’s query constitutes the only known had achieved national prominence and expression of interest in the Jazz Series for Holdings recognition, the Jazz Bowls were largely over forty years (see References on page 12). unknown. Schreckengost’s response provides Then in the mid-1980s, with a rediscovery Below is the current listing of known Jazz Series holdings. one of the earliest accounts of the commission: of Art Deco, the Series began to be featured in museum exhibitions. In 1985, it was Bowls According to my records you have one included in a major show on The Machine of a series of bowls which I made for Age, organized for the Brooklyn Museum of Cocktails and Cigarettes (fl ared) . Cleveland Museum of Art the Cowan Pottery Co., Rocky River, Art. Because no one knew the bowl’s title, it Firmament Ohio in 1930–31. . . A request was was nicknamed the Jazz Bowl; the term has . None known received from New York to submit since been applied to the entire Series. New Yorker (parabolic) While the Jazz Series had a strong initial a sketch for a Punch bowl which . Cleveland Museum of Art . Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum reception, over the course of the 1930s it showed a New York theme. Several Within a decade the New Yorker became widely recognized as one of the masterpieces . Cowan Pottery Museum faded from view as Schreckengost’s own sketches of mine were submitted and . High Museum of Art of the period—perhaps the most important career eclipsed his early success. From time this one selected. Upon completion, we . Schreckengost Collection to time a bowl or a plate would show with received a very nice letter stating that ceramic ever created in America. Museums . 5 privately held others of Schreckengost’s creations, but by the wife of the New York Governor, and collectors alike aggressively compete to New Yorker (fl ared) . Art Institute of Chicago 1940 the series had completely disappeared Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, was very acquire them. Since the 1980s, it has roughly doubled in value every fi ve years. . Erie Art Museum from the public eye. well pleased with it. . Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Schreckengost also describes to Kripke how . Princeton University Art Museum On January 4, 1954, a lawyer in New York he made several more of these bowls with . 4 privately held Night Club (fl ared) wrote to Schreckengost, reporting that he had variations in subject matter. just purchased a large punch bowl inscribed . None known Poor Man’s with Schreckengost’s name and the word . Baltimore Museum of Art “jazz” from a decorator shop in Boston. . Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University . Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Arts I have noted that there are . Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art innumerable articles on your work . 6 privately held in the Reader’s Guide to Periodical . Green glaze—2 privately held . Yellow glaze—None known Literature on the arts, and I have read Rhythm in Blue (parabolic) those which appear to deal with punch . None known bowls or vases but have not found any reference to this one. I should appreciate it if you can tell me whether Plates this is a unique piece or whether you Cocktails 1 did several like it. . 1 privately held Cocktails and Cigarettes . None known Danse Moderne . Western Reserve Historical Society . Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Arts . Schreckengost collection . 3 privately held . Full-color version—Schreckengost collection New Yorker 1 Letter from Homer Kripke to Viktor Schreckengost, January 4, 1954, . 1 privately held Viktor Schreckengost Foundation. Kripke’s letter is mistakenly dated 1953, as the subsequent letters between him and Viktor are all dated 4 1954. Viktor’s reply quoted below, also in the Foundation archives, is 5 dated February 15, 1954. The Jazz Series from Schreckengost’s molds, but the motif is not his. It is a unique Alice in Wonderland bowl signed by Cowan contemporary, Waylande Gregory, bearing the Egyptian Blue glaze, and executed in the same sgraffi to technique. Alice was a popular theme among 4 5 Cowan’s potters, so it is no surprise to fi nd her on one of Schreckengost’s bowls. (This bowl is held in a private collection.) 9 11 When Schreckengost decorated yet another of his parabolic bowls called The Hunt, (this time instead of sgraffi to work he chose underglaze slip decoration), he painted four accompanying plates and exhibited the fi ve together as a set, now owned by the 10 Smithsonian. This ensemble parallels his 6 practice of designing matching plates to go with his jazz-themed punch bowls. 3 A promotional fl yer for Cowan Pottery reproduces three of these plates: the New Yorker, Cocktails and Cigarettes, and Danse 2 Moderne. All three carry motifs that pair them 1 with the bowls: the New Yorker and Cocktails The card Schreckengost kept for Rhythm and Cigarettes plates with the bowls by the in Blue states that the bowl was exhibited same name, and Danse Moderne with Night at a one-man show in Akron in 1931 and 8 Club. While these pieces were featured in then “returned to Cowan Pottery—destiny advertisements (see page 5), Cowan seems unknown.” The reference card for Night Club to have folded before some of them were put states that the bowl was damaged but sold by a gallery in 1937 for a reduced price. The into production. London Studio photo is not an advertisement serial bowl known to exist today, Cocktails but a report of “Fine Craftsmanship” Indeed, with the exception of Danse and Cigarettes (4), was executed on a fl ared and therefore does not mention sales Moderne, these plates have almost entirely bowl and received an award from the jury at information. disappeared. A Danse Moderne (8) plate the May Show of the Cleveland Museum of is in the collection of the Western Reserve At least 11 unique combinations of Jazz Art in 1931. It was purchased from the show Firmament (7, not shown) is another unique Historical Society in Cleveland; several motifs were created. Because the original by S. Livingston Mather, ironically a direct punch bowl recorded in Schreckengost’s parabolic bowls (1) tended to warp in the descendant of Cotton Mather. are in private collections; and the Viktor fi les as an Egyptian Blue glaze with black. Schreckengost Foundation owns two—one kiln, Cowan insisted that the New Yorker Created in 1938, it was not a Cowan piece decoration be applied to a run of more fi re- Two additional punch bowl designs, Night a full-color version with yellow, red, green, and one cannot be certain that it contained a blue and black. A private collector owns the friendly fl ared rim bowls (2). Interest became Club and Rhythm in Blue, appear in a February Jazz motif; it was exhibited in the May Show so strong that a cheaper, non-sgraffi to version 1933 issue of London Studio, along with a only New Yorker (9) plate known (though that year and sold through the Cleveland photos demonstrate that at least two were was also produced, duly nicknamed the Poor Poor Man’s. The caption identifi es them as Museum of Art, but no photo exists of it Man’s punch bowl (3) by the Cowan artists. Schreckengost’s work. Night Club (5) was a and its present location is unknown. Its title made); he bought it on eBay. Cocktails and Owing to the collapse of Cowan’s pottery, fl ared bowl with dancers matching those on suggests it may have featured a design of Cigarettes (10) is known only from photos. only these three bowls, the Danse Moderne the Danse Moderne plate. Rhythm in Blue (6) planets similar to that found on the interior of A single example of a fourth plate, Cocktails plate (8) and the New Yorker plate (9) are was parabolic and featured a guitar and other several Jazz Bowls. (11), is also known to exist; it contains believed to have been produced in multiples. musical instruments. To date, only this photo cocktail glasses such that it could be paired and two reference cards from Schreckengost’s There is one more bowl of interest to Jazz with any of the bowls. Cowan offered these In addition, at least four presumably unique records attest to the existence of these bowls. Bowl connoisseurs—a parabolic shape cast Jazz Bowls were created. The only non- plates for $15 each.

6 7 The Centennial Series When Schreckengost went to the Cleveland From the beginning, mastering the sgraffi to Museum of Art to be photographed prior to technique was viewed as the most critical his 2000-2001 retrospective, the museum’s element of the project’s success. Heather New Yorker was being unpacked for display. McClellan, the project lead, has worked Schreckengost reached out to touch the bowl carefully with Schreckengost, discussing but his hand was stopped by a museum staff tools, techniques, and prototypes to recapture member who said, “You made the bowl, his depth and detail. Much as Schreckengost but you may not touch it.” Schreckengost did in 1931, McClellan created several designed these pieces to be beautiful and pieces herself; then, after careful review with useful—not to be cloistered and inaccessible. Schreckengost, she moved to the role of artistic And yet, ironically, because of their unique director, scratching the designs and carefully contribution to American art, these pieces are training decorators to fi nish the fi ll work. locked up behind glass and cannot be touched, not even by his own hand. Collectors also rue From mold recreation and underbody this situation. composition to glaze reformulation and fi ring details, the process of creating the new To resolve this tension and increase production line has encountered most of accessibility, Schreckengost is once again the challenges Schreckengost did 75 years overseeing a production of the Jazz Series, ago. With his oversight and the advantages beginning with the parabolic New Yorker, and of current chemistry and technology, those continuing with the fl ared bowls and the plates. challenges have been met. Each object He has supervised much of the work himself, continues the Schreckengost tradition of visiting the studio to fi ne-tune the process and unique and beautiful craftsmanship. Each critiquing the scratchwork of individual bowls has also been serial numbered and entered in to ensure they are faithful to his concepts—in the Schreckengost database for provenance some cases varying from any known versions tracking. These bowls and plates constitute the of the designs. Centennial Edition Jazz Series—a celebration of Schreckengost’s 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of the fi rst Jazz Series. There are 100 pieces in each set.

8 9 Visual Jazz Thematically, the Jazz Series belongs within the context of Schreckengost’s life- long interest in jazz music. Schreckengost witnessed the early years and hey day of this American art form first-hand. As a child he listened to some of the earliest jazz recordings on his sister’s phonograph; in high school he performed with the Ken Webb Band playing E-flat alto and B-flat tenor sax and clarinet; and as an art student in Cleveland he regularly visited Manhattan, where he listened to Cab Calloway. Though The Schreckengost seriously considered, Schreckengost decided against music as a career because the hours Ceramic Legacy were not to his liking. It is no surprise, then, that jazz (along with Though Schreckengost’s Jazz Bowl was a was sought by the Navy, for whom he worked its musical relatives rock and gospel) appear career launching piece, placed in the context of on emerging radar technology and advances in repeatedly as themes in Schreckengost’s his ceramics achievements before and after, it is dimensional aerial map-making. simply another work from his hand. Growing up other work. About the same time he created in Ohio’s pottery belt, he had modeled his own After WWII, Schreckengost returned to his the Jazz Series, for example, he painted toys in clay as a child and sold mass produced roots and, in the process, transformed American a series of watercolors using what one ceramic wares through Gem Clay Forming ceramics. His mid-century slab form sculptures, might term a jazz style—free spirited, Co. as a high school student. Schreckengost’s vessels that were carved instead of thrown improvisational, and punctuated with “jazz experience with Cowan and his intense training or modeled, proved that pottery needn’t be licks” of color. These portray a collection in Vienna prepared him to make an impact that functional but could stand alone as appealing of performers, including several jazz would change the face of American ceramics in sculptural forms. The slab form sculptures, the 20th Century. often taking their inspiration from gourds, shells musicians, dancers and singers. Throughout and other natural shapes, not only introduced a his life, Schreckengost created paintings and At the request of Walter Dorwin Teague, new technique for the potter—that of cutting watercolors of musical instruments, such as Schreckengost exhibited a series of four away clay to form sculpture—but also elevated Big City Jazz, Rock Jazz Bass, Rhapsody (In sculpted heads in the American Pavilion of the ceramics from a craft to a fine art form. Using the Mood), Reeds, and Baritone in Brass. 1939 New York World’s Fair. The Elements, hewn and modeling techniques in the large, each in different colors of clay, consisted of Schreckengost created monumental, 32-ton Schreckengost also manifested his musical four stylized heads: Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. structural terra cotta sculptures that still delight passion through sculpture, including Rhythm During World War II, his expertise as a sculptor visitors of the Cleveland Zoo. of the Soil and Oh Lord. He portrayed biblical characters as black to evoke a southern gospel feeling as in Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego. His pedal cars, bicycles, and other early design work were adorned with the design elements (like speed whiskers) that were utilized extensively during the Art Deco/Jazz era. photo by Herb Ascherman photo by Herb 10 “The best of their age…boldly designed and exquisitely executed.” - John Axelrod 11