{"data":{"id":"1406","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1406,"topgoose_id":223,"tms_id":1406,"display_name":"H.C. Westermann","sort_name":"Westermann H.C.","display_date":"1922–1981","begin_date":"1922","end_date":"1981","biography":"\u003cp\u003eH. C. Westermann’s singular body of\nwork draws on a range of cultural and\npersonal signifiers—including military\ninsignias, nautical motifs, comic books, folk\nart, and literature—to portray a critical\nand darkly humorous vision of mid-twentieth-\ncentury America. His energetic drawings\nand masterfully crafted sculptures\nincorporate formal aspects of Surrealism,\nExpressionism, Pop art, New Imagism,\nand Funk sensibilities, yet they refuse any\nsuch easy classification.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1942 Westermann enlisted in\nthe Marine Corps, serving as an anti-aircraft\ngunner on the USS \u003cem\u003eEnterprise\u003c/em\u003e. After the war,\nhe briefly traveled with the USO as an\nacrobat before enrolling through the GI Bill\nin the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.\nJust three years into his studies, in 1950,\nhe enlisted again as an infantryman in the\nKorean War, a second tour of duty that\nwould have a profound effect on the artist;\nhis subsequent work is characterized by\nan existential rumination brought about\nby the trauma of war and the contradictions\nof postwar society.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/3300\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAntimobile\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e embodies the sense\nof futility Westermann found in America’s\nso-called industrial progress. The seamless\ncraftsmanship of the work, its finish,\nand the clever engineering of its functional\naxle mechanism are in conflict with the\nincongruous form of the wheel itself,\ndetached from any vessel and seemingly\nwarped or melting. As Westermann explained,\n“Everything is on wheels nowadays . . .\na hundred million cars . . . and everything\nturns and it’s all a bunch of junk. . . .\nI wanted to make something that was just\ncompletely anti-wheel, anti-mobile.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":null,"wikidata_id":"Q1553678","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:33:48.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-26T07:02:28.188-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1406/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1406/exhibitions"}}}}