H.C. Westermann
Exhibition Curated by Lynne Warren and Michael Rooks
Essays Dennis Adrian, Michael Rooks, Robert Storr and Lynne Warren
folio. pp. 212. 294 illustrations - 220 in colour. chronology. bibliography. hardcover. dw. (near fine - some scuffs and light wear to edges of dw). Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art in association with Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers, [2002].
Published in conjunction with an exhibition.
ISBN-10: 0810945649 / ISBN-13: 9780810945647
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The irony and antic sense of humor that animate the work of H. C. Westermann (19221981) and make it so accessible are evident on every page of this volume, the first comprehensive study of the artist in over 20 years. Published to accompany a major traveling exhibition of Westermanns
sculpture, the book looks at how defining themes central to 20th-century Americathe horror and disillusionment of war, the mythology of the American utopia, and Hollywood and mass mediashaped his thought and his art.
Magnificent color illustrations accompany essays by Robert Storr, who evaluates Westermann in the context of 20th-century art; Lynne Warren, who looks at his years in Chicago in the 1950s; Dennis Adrian, a longtime friend, who surveys the artists entire oeuvre; and Michael Rooks, who examines his most elaborate achievement, the house and studio in Connecticut that the artist designed and built by hand from 1969 to 1981.