Viktor IV

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Viktor IV (February 18, 1929 – June, 1986) born Walter Carl Gluck was an American artist who drew paintings and calendar illustrations. In 1963, he left America shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and left for Amsterdam. While in Amsterdam he did not live in a house but spent the rest of his life on a barge in a canal. He drew paintings and calendar illustrations while in Amsterdam. He died by accidentally drowning in late June of 1986 when he tried to fixed a hole in his barge.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Journalism and Travelling period 3 Art Works and life in Amsterdam 4 Death 5 After death

[edit] Early life

Walter Carl Gluck was born in New York City in 1929. He was son to German immigrants named Andrew Ferdinand Gluck (1891 - 1974) and Mary Elliopoulus Gluck (1895 - 1965). As a child, Walter spent most of his time reading Greek literature, poetry, and art which inspired him to become an artist. Walter had trouble in grade school and was not very good in school. One of his teacher's said he was a schizophrenic which could possibly be true or not. However, he did graduate from high school in 1947.

[edit] Journalism and Travelling period

After high school, Walter got a job working at an ice cream and hot dog stand. However, he left for California in 1951 and got a job as a lifeguard and would not return to New York City until 1954. However, he did not stay in New York much longer for he moved to Florida and studied journalism and art at the University of Miami. After graduation in 1959 he moved to Peru but it was only for three months. Then he left for Japan and became a journalist there and a photographer. He returned to the United States in January, 1961. When he returned to New York he changed his named to Carl Walter Gluck. Gluck continued his journalism. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, that would change Carl's life. He was worried about what the United States would be like with the Vietnam War and the hippie movement. By 1964, he built a boat and sailed to Amsterdam and never returned to the United States ever again. He made it to Amsterdam in autumn of 1964 and stayed there the rest of his life.

[edit] Art Works and life in Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, Carl Walter Gluck changed his name to Viktor IV and spent time drawing and studying Greek artworks on the barge he lived on. He named the barge he lived on "Henry David Thoreau" after his favorite author. On December 4, 1964, Viktor wrote a letter to his parents back in New York.

The letter says: I listened to hundreds of hours of the wonder and beauty of Mozart. He has given me so much. And now I find I have something to give. Literally to the world. It is there, it pours out, I do not want it to stop. Did you know Mozart died at the age of 35? That is the age I began my works I feel like a clock that time is running out. That is why I work faster than four times a regular man can work. It is a frenzy. It's an ecstasy.

He mainly wrote the letter to his mother who would be dead in four months in March, 1965. She was sixty nine years old. By April, 1965, Viktor had published 32 pieces of arts but his fame would be in Amsterdam and parts of Europe only. In early 1966, Viktor attempted suicide due to the fact he did not have a woman in his life. This was his second attempt at suicide and committed suicide also when his mother died in 1965 and when his father died in 1974. Viktor was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and relied on alcohol to drown his sorrows. By 1968, Viktor left Amsterdam for France. He would later live in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and Copenhagen, Denmark. All his life, Viktor was a nomad and loved to travel. In 1971 while living in Denmark, he met a woman named Elisabeth Flemming who recently separated from her husband. The two would later move back to Amsterdam, live on the barge with him and become only boyfriend and girlfriend until his death. By 1974, Viktor's art work was put in the Stejilliljk Museum of Art in Amsterdam. By 1978, he found work as a clock maker and eventually his clocks would also be in the Stejilliljk Museum of Art. By 1982, at age 53 he spent time in Switzerland with his girlfriend and would not return until February of 1986, four months before his death.

[edit] Death

Around June 29, 1986, the 57 year old Viktor had a leak in his barge. He told Elisabeth to get off the raft. While trying to fix the hole he drowned in a canal. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the canal he stayed in. Viktor however did not feel like living anymore by around age 50. He also once said, "I was born an artist and intend to die one and nothing else."

[edit] After death

After Viktor's death two things both happened. Elisabeth would eventually start courting an American Vietnam War veteran about ten years after his death and in 1998. Viktor's art works were made into calendar illustrations.