Copied
Viktor Schreckengost, Apocalypse '42, 1942, terracotta and glaze with engobe, 15 3⁄8 x 20 3⁄8 x 8 1⁄8 in. (39.1 x 51.8 x 20.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1985.92.1
Copied
Artwork Details
- Title
- Apocalypse ’42
- Artist
- Date
- 1942
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 15 3⁄8 x 20 3⁄8 x 8 1⁄8 in. (39.1 x 51.8 x 20.6 cm.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the artist
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- terracotta and glaze with engobe
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Allegory — death
- Religion — New Testament — Last Judgment
- Allegory — civic — fascism
- Portrait male — Hitler, Adolf — caricature
- Portrait male — Mussolini — caricature
- Object Number
- 1985.92.1
Artwork Description
I've always felt that you can say more with one vivid cartoon than you can with a lot of heavy words. -- Viktor Schreckengost
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery, 2019
Luce Center Label
Viktor Schreckengost created Apocalypse '42 a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This image of a frightened horse bearing Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and a figure of Death across the globe was made to protest the rise of fascism. The drips of bloodred glaze around the horse's head and hooves were an unintentional effect of the firing process.
Exhibitions
November 13, 2015–March 6, 2022
Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.