Apocalypse '42

Viktor Schreckengost (American, born 1906) Apocalypse 42, 1942 Earthenware National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., Gift of the artist

This ceramic sculpture was created within months of America's entry into World War II. A burlesque parody of the four horsemen of the Apocalyse from the Book of Revelations, the sculpture features an allegory of Death wearing a German military uniform and holding a bomb. Death is accompanied by the three leaders of the Axis alliance Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini all seated on a horse galloping over a globe dripping with blood.