H. C. Westermann: Goin' Home, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2019
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
H. C. Westermann: Goin' Home
The Museo Reina Sofía has organized, with the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art, H. C. Westermann: Goin’ Home, the largest retrospective yet held in Europe on Horace Clifford Westermann
American artist Horace Clifford Westermann (Los Angeles, 1922 – Danbury, 1981) assembled a distinctive and singular body of sculptures. His works were predominantly made from wood through his masterly command of carpentry and cabinetmaking, yet he also used other techniques and materials such as metal, glass and enamelling with incredible precision. Without adhering to one particular style, Westermann was a maker of objects, of separate pieces: his sculptures, laden with meaning, often irony, result from the processing of experience, coalescing to yield specific fragments of reality.
It is the course of these fragments that the retrospective presented by the Museo Reina Sofía follows.
H.C. Westermann, Fondazione Prada, Milan, 2017
Fondazione Prada
H. C. Westermann
The exhibition is structured around three thematic sections conceived and curated by Germano Celant as a whole – “Leon Golub”, “H. C. Westermann” and “Famous Artists from Chicago. 1965-1975”
Fondazione Prada will present at its Milan venue a research and information program on the Chicago art scene developed in the aftermath of World War II. The project is focused on the employment of a painting style characterized by political commitment, figurative narratives and radical graphics, and therefore rejected by mainstream New York culture – which was more interested in the abstract and impersonal dimensions of art.
The section devoted to H. C. Westermann reunites on the first floor of the Podium more than 50 sculptures of different dimensions, realized between the 50’s and the 80’s, along with a selection of works on paper.
Artforum
H. C. Westermann: Venus Over Manhattan
By Rachel Churner
Lined three deep on a massive table, the H. C. Westermann sculptures in this exhibition were stunning in their craftsmanship, blistering in their satire, and sometimes, as in the case of Walnut Box, 1964—a walnut box filled with walnuts—just plain funny. These small-scale constructions, some of the best that Westermann made, were accompanied here by forty-seven prints and drawings, two paintings, and eleven life-size assemblages.
H.C. Westermann
Boy in the Forest, 1953
casein on veneered plywood
23 3/4 x 34 in
60.3 x 86.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Man Animal, 1953
oil on canvas
25 1/2 x 37 in
64.8 x 94 cm
H.C. Westermann
Untitled (Unusual Physician), 1957
pine, metal, aluminum
8 1/2 x 12 x 9 1/4 in
21.6 x 30.5 x 23.5 cm
H.C. Westermann
Champion of Justice, c. 1959
ink and watercolor on paper
13 1/2 x 10 3/4 in
34.3 x 26 cm
H.C. Westermann
No Kid Should Be Without One, n.d.
ink and watercolor on paper
13 1/2 x 10 3/4 in
34.3 x 26 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Smoker, c. 1959
Ink and watercolor on paper
13 1/2 x 10 3/4 in
34.3 x 26 cm
H.C. Westermann
Object Under Pressure, 1960
douglas fir, metal, pressure gauge
72 3/4 x 14 x 16 3/8 in
184.8 x 35.6 x 41.6 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Silver Queen, 1960
pine, plywood, pine moulding, galvanized metal weather vent, iron fittings, enamel, aluminum alkyd enamel
79 3/4 x 20 7/8 x 21 1/8 in
202.6 x 53 x 53.7 cm
H.C. Westermann
Swingin’ Red King, 1961
pine, pine moulding, plywood, enamel
83 3/4 x 29 1/4 x 25 in
212.7 x 74.3 x 63.5 cm
H.C. Westermann
Pillar of Truth, 1962
red oak, pine, walnut, enamel, cast aluminum, metal spring
24 5/8 x 7 1/2 x 8 in
62.5 x 19.1 x 20.3 cm
H.C. Westermann
Where the Angels Fear to Tread, 1962
pine, enamel, metal, rubber bumpers
18 1/4 x 10 3/8 x 3 1/2 in
46.4 x 26.4 x 8.9 cm
H.C. Westermann
L.B., 1963
wood, plate glass, mirror, enamel, ink
14 x 13 7/8 x 3 in
35.6 x 35.2 x 7.6 cm
H.C. Westermann
19 Illustrated Letters (From H.C. Westermann to Allan Frumkin), 1963-1970
ink, watercolor on paper
17 3/4 x 22 1/2 in
45.1 x 57.2 cm
H.C. Westermann
15 Decorated Envelopes (From H.C. Westermann to Allan Frumkin)
various dimensions
H.C. Westermann
A Human Condition, 1964
pine, masonite, brass
37 7/8 x 24 x 13 in
96.2 x 61 x 33 cm
H.C. Westermann
Aluminated, 1964
marine plywood, masonite, aluminum alkyd enamel, reflectors, enamel, mirror, rubber bumpers
18 3/4 x 21 3/4 x 22 in
47.6 x 55.2 x 55.9 cm
H.C. Westermann
Clean Air, 1964
walnut, plate glass, putty, brass plate, and rubber bumpers
15 3/4 x 22 1/4 x 14 5/8 in
40 x 56.5 x 37.1 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Beginning of a Brand New City, 1964
aluminum, pine, plywood, plate glass, aluminum alkyd enamel, enamel, mirror, and rubber bumpers
21 3/4 x 19 1/2 x 6 in
55.2 x 49.5 x 15.2 cm
H.C. Westermann
U.S.A., 1964
ink on paper
13 7/8 x 16 3/4 in
35.2 x 42.5 cm
H.C. Westermann
Walnut Box, 1964
walnut, walnuts, plate glass, brass chain
10 3/4 x 13 3/8 x 11 in
27.3 x 34 x 27.9 cm
H.C. Westermann
Shark Board, 1965
cedar, ebony, pine, rubber bumpers
3 5/8 x 29 7/8 x 15 1/2 in
9.2 x 75.9 x 39.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Suicide Tower, 1965
mahogany, brass, ebony, postcards, and metal
43 3/4 x 15 1/4 x 13 7/8 in
111.1 x 38.7 x 35.2 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Ball and the Jack, 1965
ash and ink
27 3/4 x 24 3/8 x 10 7/8 in
70.5 x 61.9 x 27.6 cm
H.C. Westermann
Death Ship Runover by a ‘66 Lincoln Continental, 1966
pine, plate glass, ebony, US dollar bills, putty, brass, ink
15 5/8 x 32 1/2 x 11 3/4 in
39.7 x 82.6 x 29.8 cm
H.C. Westermann
Homage to American Art (Dedicated to Elie Nadelman), 1966
douglas fir, ash, cast lead, antique shovel handle
48 1/4 x 18 x 18 1/4 in
122.6 x 45.7 x 46.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Le Keeque (after Jockomedy), 1966
chromium-plated solid cast bronze
36 x 19 x 9 in
91.4 x 48.3 x 22.9 cm
H.C. Westermann
Le Ronaire, 1966
wood and brass
27 x 37 x 8 1/4 in
68.6 x 94 x 21 cm
H.C. Westermann
March or Die, 1966
pine, redwood, leather, ebony, metal, felt, ink
30 3/4 x 20 x 10 3/8 in
78.1 x 50.8 x 26.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Mr. Goo #1, 1966
chrome plated bronze
14 x 11 x 4 5/8 in
35.6 x 27.9 x 11.7 cm
edition 1 of 2
H.C. Westermann
Nothing is to be Done for William T. Wiley, 1967
wood
43 1/2 x 28 x 2 in
110.5 x 71.1 x 5.1 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Rape of Cracker Jack, 1967
maple, hemp rope with electrical tape, brass chain, rubber bumpers, ink
11 3/8 x 30 1/4 x 9 1/4 in
28.9 x 76.8 x 23.5 cm
H.C. Westermann
Six Illustrated Letters (From H.C. Westermann to Peter and Robert Frumkin), 1967- 1970
various dimensions
10 1/2 x 7 1/4 in
26.7 x 18.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
35 Air Races Always To “Mac” First, 1968
ink and watercolor on paper
13 1/2 x 10 1/4 in
34.3 x 26 cm
H.C. Westermann
Death Ship of No Port with a Shifted Cargo, 1968
redwood, ebony, amaranth (purpleheart), goatskin, brass, pine, and rubber bumpers
9 7/8 x 16 7/8 x 6 1/2 in
25.1 x 42.9 x 16.5 cm
H.C. Westermann
No Man Stands So Straight as When He Stoops to Help a Boy, 1968
bird’s-eye maple, cast bronze, cast lead, brass, stainless steel, copper, iron, paint, nuts and bolts, rubber bumpers, ink
15 x 22 1/2 x 9 1/2 in
38.1 x 57.2 x 24.1 cm
H.C. Westermann
See America First, 1968
watercolor and ink on paper
17 3/4 x 20 3/4 in
45.1 x 52.7 cm
H.C. Westermann
See America First (Untitled #7), 1968
ink and ink wash on paper
10 2/3 x 13 3/4 in
27 x 34.9 cm
H.C. Westermann
Frenchy’s Rocking Horse plus Artist’s Box, 1969
beech, douglas fir, white oak, zebrawood bolts, brass nuts, ink
16 7/8 x 10 3/4 x 23 3/4 in
42.9 x 27.3 x 60.3 cm
H.C. Westermann
Little Egypt, 1969
douglas fir, pine, oak, bronze
68 1/2 x 32 3/8 x 31 1/8 in
174 x 82.2 x 79.1 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Deerslayer, 1969
galvanized iron pipe and fittings, metal, wood, and antler
82 1/2 x 28 x 47 1/4 in
209.6 x 71.1 x 120 cm
H.C. Westermann
Walnut Log, 1969
walnut, tape
8 1/2 x 17 1/4 x 5 1/2 in
21.6 x 43.8 x 14 cm
H.C. Westermann
Billy Al 67X, 1970
sugar pine, vermillion, brass
12 5/8 x 13 3/4 x 10 in
32.1 x 34.9 x 25.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Strong Man’s Chair, 1970
douglas fir, leather, zebra wood, brass plate
42 x 21 3/4 x 20 5/8 in
106.7 x 55.2 x 52.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Untitled, 1970
ink and wash on paper
22 1/4 x 29 3/4 in
56.5 x 75.6 cm
H.C. Westermann
An Old Indian Implement, 1971
douglas fir, Connecticut fieldstone, pigskin, walnut
10 x 18 x 10 3/4 in
25.4 x 45.7 x 27.3 cm
H.C. Westermann
Human Fly, 1971
ink and watercolor on paper
29 3/4 x 22 1/4 in
75.6 x 56.5 cm
H.C. Westermann
Black Death Ship, 1972
ink and watercolor on paper
22 x 30 in
55.9 x 76.2 cm
H.C. Westermann
The Airline Pilot, 1973
copper, screen, solder
27 3/8 x 26 3/4 x 21 1/8 in
69.5 x 67.9 x 53.7 cm
H.C. Westermann
Untitled (First Peanut), 1973
eastern pine, walnut, rubber
13 5/8 x 24 3/8 x 10 1/2 in
34.6 x 61.9 x 26.7 cm
H.C. Westermann
I’m Goin’ Home on the Midnight Train, 1974
purpleheart (amaranth), hickory, zebrawood, ebony, brass, steel, pine, ink
5 1/2 x 23 x 7 3/4 in
14 x 58.4 x 19.7 cm
H.C. Westermann
Untitled (“Walnut Death Ship in a Chestnut Box”), 1974
chestnut, walnut, zebrawood, galvanized sheet metal, copper, and ebony
17 7/8 x 24 7/8 x 8 1/2 in
45.4 x 63.2 x 21.6 cm
H.C. Westermann
Connecticut Ballroom, 1976
seven woodblock prints on natsume paper
each: 24 x 30 in
each: 61 x 76.2 cm
H.C. Westermann
Ed’s Varnish, 1976
pine, three one-quart cans of Man O’War Ultra Spar Marine Varnish, bird’s-eye maple, brass, ink
9 7/8 x 18 1/2 x 8 1/2 in
25.1 x 47 x 21.6 cm
H.C. Westermann
U.S.S. Franklin Arising from an Oil Slick Sea, 1976
pine, enamel, ebony, granadillo (cocobolo), and brass
10 1/2 x 33 x 7 1/4 in
26.7 x 83.8 x 18.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Female Figure, 1977
southern pine, aspen, hemlock, douglas fir, beech saplings, oak, plate glass, watercolor on paper, photograph
79 3/4 x 24 1/8 x 31 1/4 in
202.6 x 61.3 x 79.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Texas Cactus, 1979-80
douglas fir, plywood, sugar pine, enamel, masonite, sapling
56 5/8 x 20 1/2 x 23 5/8 in
143.8 x 52.1 x 60 cm
H.C. Westermann
Difu, 1980
pine, “difu” wood, leather
12 5/8 x 12 7/8 x 10 in
32.1 x 32.7 x 25.4 cm
H.C. Westermann
Death Ship of No Port, 1967
three color lithograph on arches wove paper, deckled edges
18 x 24 in
45.7 x 61 cm
edition of 50 + 3 APs
H.C. Westermann
Green Planet, 1967
four color lithograph on arches wove paper, deckled edges
24 x 18 in
61 x 45.7 cm
edition of 15
H.C. Westermann
Red Planet “J,” 1967
three color lithograph on arches wove paper, deckled edges
30 x 22 1/2 in
76.2 x 57.2 cm
edition of 50 + 2 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – Portfolio, 1972
brown wove paper commercial document portfolio with fabric ribbon ties, with screen printed portfolio title, date, and artist’s name
25 1/2 x 37 in
64.8 x 94 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – Death Ship in Port, 1972
nine color lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper, torn and deckled edges
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 83.8 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – Green River, 1972
nine color lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper, torn and deckled edges
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 83.8 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – The Lost Planet, 1972
nine color lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper, torn and deckled edges
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 83.8 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – “J” Print, 1972
nine color lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper, torn and deckled edges
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 83.8 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – An Affair in the Islands, 1972
nine color lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper, torn and deckled edges
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 83.8 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
H.C. Westermann
Six Lithographs – Holiday Inn, 1972
nine color lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper, torn and deckled edges
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 83.8 cm
edition of 60 + 10 APs
Portrait of H.C. Westermann
Horace Clifford Westermann was born in 1922 in Los Angeles, California. He attended Los Angeles City College for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942, serving aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise during World War II in the Pacific. Following the war, Westermann enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, before reenlisting for a tour of duty in the Korean War. Upon his return, Westermann reenrolled at the Art Institute, and staged his debut solo exhibition at the Allan Frumkin Gallery in 1958. In 1959, he married the painter Joanna Beall, with whom he moved to Brookfield Center, Connecticut, in 1964. Westermann’s work has been the subject of numerous solo presentations, including recent exhibitions at the Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Fondazione Prada, Milan; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. His work is held by many public institutions, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Westermann lived and worked in Brookfield Center until his death in 1981.
H.C. Westermann work acquired by the Saint Louis Art Museum
The gift introduces a number of artists into the collection, including H.C. Westermann.
Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. See them below.
H.C. Westermann is beloved for a type of sculpture that’s a potent mix of Dada and old, weird Americana. But this modest yet gripping exhibition also reveals that he was a marvelous draftsman with a sharp, satirical wit. Along one wall is a group of drawings, inspired by a road trip the artist took with his wife, that skewers 1960s fantasies of the Wild West.
A cross-shaped wooden box on a pedestal faced the entrance to this exhibition of H.C. Westermann’s sculptures, prints and drawings at Venus (formerly Venus Over Manhattan).
Lined three deep on a massive table, the H. C. Westermann sculptures in this exhibition were stunning in their craftsmanship, blistering in their satire, and sometimes, as in the case of Walnut Box, 1964—a walnut box filled with walnuts—just plain funny.
In many ways 2015 was a year of historical return for New York’s galleries, with successful exhibitions of the Memphis group (“wacky, boldly kitsch-adjacent design”), Hollis Frampton (“penetrating, conceptually-oriented photography”), and septuagenarian Lynn Hershman Leeson (“started making alliances between art and science well before trendy millennial artists”).
Even before there was Pop Art, Peter Saul was making it. Born in 1934, Saul gave birth to his idiosyncratic style while living in Paris and Rome in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Asked what one of his blazingly original assemblages meant, artist H.C. Westermann (1922–1981) replied, “It puzzles me, too. How can I explain a work like that?”
Mark Manders’s work makes a good argument for banishing the term “contemporary.” It’s a silly term.
Now on view at Venus Over Manhattan, See America First is an exhibition of over 80 sculptures and works on paper by H.C. Westermann created between 1953 and 1980.
Despite her having just closed three concurrent solo shows at the New York and L.A. locales of Venus (formerly Venus Over Manhattan and Venus Over Los Angeles) and Carl Freedman, the long, narrow space is bursting at the seams with brightly colored, electric paintings of watermelons, sharks, and bananas.
Consider that Westermann was a veteran of two major battles of the twentieth century - World War II and the Korean War - and those "charming little robots and Shaker-style objects that people call "nice" and "cute suddenly seem a lot more funereal, prosthetic, terrified.
H.C. Westermann: 'See America First: Works from 1953-1980' (through Dec. 19) No one who cares about contemporary art should miss this terrific exhibition of sculptures, drawings, prints and illustrated letters by H.C. Westermann.
"See America First," a comprehensive exhibition of sculptures and drawings by the late, great H.C. Westermann, is on view now at Venus Over Manhattan. The installation features a wide range of Westermann's work, spanning from 1953 to 1980. Here are 11 Things You Need To Know about the artist before you visit the exhibition:
“Homage to American Art (Dedicated to Elie Nadelman)” is one of 38 sculptures in “See America First,” a terrific exhibition of works by the great American visionary H. C. Westermann (1922–1981) at Venus (formerly Venus Over Manhattan).
One of the latest hot young artists from America to grace these shores is Katherine Bernhardt, whose new paintings have virtually sold out at Carl Freedman’s Shoreditch gallery.
What does America look like? It depends on your perspective.
Check out our suggestions for the best art exhibitions you don’t want to miss, including gallery openings and more
NEW YORK, NY.- Venus presents See America First, an exhibition of sculptures and works on paper by American artist, H.C. Westermann (b. Los Angeles, 1922–1981).
Venus Over Manhattan (980 Madison Avenue) has a show by "eccentric art world maverick" H.C. Westermann called "See America First" opening on November 2nd, 6 to 8 p.m., and up until December 19th.
