Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: December 9, 1882 - Victor Karl Hammer

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From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -Victor Karl Hammer, painter and typographer, was born in Vienna, on December 9, 1882, the son of Karl and Maria (Fuhrmann) Hammer. After being apprenticed to an architect, he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1898, where he studied painting and sculpture. In 1939 Hammer and his wife, Rosl (nee Rossbach), emigrated to the United States, where he taught art first at Wells College in Aurora, New York. From 1948 to 1952 he taught at Transylvania University in Lexington.

Hammer was active both as an artist and as a hand-press printer. His American Uncial typeface is widely used, and his printing created much interest among private presses. Both his painting and typography are highly formal and traditional in style. Hammer and Rosl had two children, Veronika and Jacob. Hammer married Carolyn Reading in 1955. He died in Lexington on July 10, 1967, and was buried in Pisgah Cemetery in Woodford County , Kentucky.

See

Sir John Rothenstein, Victor Hammer, Artist and Craftsman (Boston 1978)
C.R. Hammer, Victor Hammer, Artist and Printer (Lexington, Ky., 1981).

JAMES D. BIRCHFIELD, Entry Author

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Hammer, Victor, and Morlan Gallery. The Drawings of Victor Hammer : [exhibition At] Transylvania University, Mitchell Fine Arts Center, Morlan Gallery, 27 September-11 October, 1970. Lexington, Ky.: Keystone Printery, 1970. Print.
N6537.H34 D73 1970, Special Collections Research Center - Rare Books

Middleton, R. Hunter. Victor Hammer : Artist and Master of the Printing Art. Chicago: Champion Papers, 1965. Print. Printing Salesman's Herald ; Bk. 14.
ND237.H26 M54 1965, Special Collections Research Center - Rare Books

Hammer, Victor. Victor Hammer's Engravings and Woodcuts. Lexington, Ky.: Anvil, 1979. Print.
N6537.H34 V54 1979, Special Collections Research Center - Rare Books