'Speech Without Words' : The Paintings of H. C. Westermann

Saturday, 26 August 2006 14:40

HONOLULU, OAHU, HI – Dreaming of a Speech Without Words: The Paintings and Early Objects of H. C. Westermann is the first exhibition and publication to investigate in-depth the paintings of Westermann, a highly influential, but still relatively under-appreciated American artist.  The exhibition title refers to a quote from Steppenwolf (“We intellectuals, instead of rendering obedience to the Logos, the Word, are all dreaming of a speech without words that utters the inexpressible and gives form to the formless.”) and speaks to Westermann’s earnest desire to express through his art what he found difficult or impossible to verbalize.  Westermann’s initial ambition was to become a painter, though he became best known for his sculpture, prints, and drawings.  Since two comprehensive exhibitions of Westermann’s work toured the United States in 2001, his wide-ranging influence on successive generations of artists has been recognized and it continues to reverberate in work by young artists today.

In his paintings (1949-1959), Westermann applied technical drafting skills and practical know-how from his occupation as a carpenter to produce work that explored traditional painting genres such as the portrait, landscape and still-life, as well as religious and history painting.  These paintings present harbingers of some central themes in Westermann’s later work such as his critique of war and misanthropic notion of men as brutish and myopic, images of dream worlds where violent and carnal dramas are played out, imaginings of death and the afterlife, the autobiographical daredevil/acrobatic surrogate, and Westermann’s vision of urban life as confining, noxious, and perverse.

Westerman’s paintings bring to light important relationships between his formal training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the history of modernism in Chicago, and the evolution of his mature sculptural work.  Exhibition dates August 25 – November 19, 2006.

The traveling exhibition, curated by The Contemporary Museum curator Michael Rooks, will focus on this concise but pivotal period in the development of Westermann’s oeuvre, including 17 paintings, 15 sculptures, 7 painted objects, and selected works on paper and ephemera.  Most of the works in the exhibition have never before been exhibited publicly.  A fully illustrated catalogue designed by Chicago-based JNL Graphic Design will include essays by preeminent Westermann scholars, Dennis Adrian, David McCarthy, and Michael Rooks.  The catalog will also include a postscript written by ten contemporary artists including Mark Booth, Aaron Curry, Ryan Johnson, Chris Johanson, John Koga, Jason Meadows, Jim Nutt, Erik Parker, Ruth Root, and Ed Ruscha.

After its premiere at The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, the exhibition will travel to Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Stanford, California.

About the artist
H. C. Westermann (1922-1981) has been associated with such twentieth-century art movements as Surrealism, the “Monster Roster” (Chicago’s first generation of postwar artists), Neo-Dada, and Pop Art.  Yet his highly individual approach characterized by sophisticated thematic strands intertwined with autobiography, as well as his use of materials and techniques often associated with fine craft, sets his work apart from most art historical categories.  Although much of his work draws upon and refers to personal experience, Westermann ultimately was concerned with the tragic aspects and absurdities of modern life.  The harshness of Westermann’s often pessimistic worldview is leavened by the biting, critical, and often dark humor permeating his work.

After serving as a Marine gunner aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in the Pacific during World War II from 1943-45, Westermann enrolled in The School of The Art Institute of Chicago on the G.I. Bill.  During this time he studied applied arts such as drafting, composition, and graphic design.  His education was interrupted by the Korean War when he reenlisted to serve in the Marines from 1951-52.  Upon his return to The School of the Art Institute, Westermann changed his field of study from applied arts to fine art.  Older than many of his fellow students and profoundly affected by the horrors he had witnessed during his military service, Westermann’s artwork revealed a mind’s eye that set him apart from his peers by its intense connection with the psychological exigencies of post-war life in the United States.

About The Contemporary Museum
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, is the only museum in the state of Hawaii devoted exclusively to contemporary art.  The Contemporary Museum provides an accessible forum for provocative, dynamic forms of visual art, offering interaction with art and artists in a unique Island environment.  The Contemporary Museum presents its innovative exhibition and educational programs at two venues: in residential Honolulu at the historic Cooke-Spalding house, and downtown at First Hawaiian Center.

Visit : www.tcmhi.org