Sebring native donates "Jazz Bowl"

CLEVELAND — A famous work from a Sebring native is now part of a presidential library in Hyde Park, N.Y.

Artist and industrial designer Viktor Schreckengostboth ok of Cleveland and formerly of Sebring, donated “Jazz Bowl,” one of his most notable works, to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y.

More than 130 galleries and museums throughout the country marked Schreckengost’s 100th birthday this year with the National Centennial Exhibition displaying his works. They range from toys, ceramics, paintings, sketches, dinnerware and trucks. To cap off those centennial celebrations, Schreckengost donated the "Jazz Bowl" this week.

An anonymous commission given to Schreckengost through a New York gallery in 1931 requested a “large, New York-ish punch bowl,” according to the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation in Cleveland. The bowl was actually to be for Eleanor Roosevelt in celebration of her husband’s re-election as governor of New York.

Schreckengost responded using his visions of New York on New Year’s Eve, the foundation said. The large Egyptian blue and black bowl bears images of skyscrapers, ocean liners and musical icons. Mrs. Roosevelt liked “Jazz Bowl” so much that she ordered another one for the White House.

The bowl donated to the museum is called No. 31, to commemorate the year of the bowl’s creation. It’s from the 100-piece limited edition series.