Victor Hammer

Victor Hammer (1882-1967) was an Austrian painter, craftsperson, sculptor, designer, educator, graphic artist, and writer. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with Camillo Sitte. In 1922, Hammer moved to Florence where he set up a printing press. In 1939 he fled Europe and the Second World War and came to the United States with his wife, Rosl. They moved to Aurora, NY, where Hammer taught the fine arts at Wells College. He gained a worldwide reputation as a book craftsman who designed, cut and cast his own type. He brought to the college an antique flatbed press dating from around the turn of the century and while at Wells, he printed his own books by hand. With the assistance of his son, Jacob, he established the Wells College Press, which put out some three dozen books, distinctive for beautiful and artistic printing, illustrations, design, and bindings. He retired to Lexington, Kentucky.