{"data":{"id":"3300","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":3300,"topgoose_id":1356,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":3300,"title":"Antimobile","display_artist_text":"H.C. Westermann","display_date":"1966","accession_number":"69.4a-b","dimensions":"Overall: 67 3/8 × 36 5/16 × 27 5/8 in. (171.1 × 92.2 × 70.2 cm)","medium":"Laminated plywood","department":"collection","classification":"Sculpture","credit_line":"Purchase, with funds from the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation, Inc. and exchange","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eH.C. Westermann, \u003cem\u003eAntimobile\u003c/em\u003e, 1966. Laminated plywood, overall: 67 3/8 × 36 5/16 × 27 5/8 in. (171.1 × 92.2 × 70.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Howard and Jean Lipman Foundation, Inc. and exchange 69.4a-b. © Estate of H.C. Westermann / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eFlawlessly constructed of marine plywood and Douglas fir, and lacquered to a glossy finish, \u003ci\u003eAntimobile \u003c/i\u003eis made to move: the wheel turns on an axle fashioned from a bicycle pedal with a ball-bearing mechanism. As in several other pieces of the early- to mid-1960s, H.C. Westermann here treats wood laminates as if they were softly pliable elastic. But everything else about this floor-bound sculpture—from its name to its drooping contours—suggests immobility. With its misshapen and paralyzed steering wheel and such eccentric details as a diminutive wing-bolt crown, \u003ci\u003eAntimobile\u003c/i\u003e conjures up a subversive, impotent machine, one that inhibits function and idolizes craft. Beyond the mordant humor that characterizes Westermann’s work is often anger at the crass commercialism he saw overtaking American culture: “everything is on wheels nowadays. . .a hundred million cars. . .and everything turns and it’s all a bunch of junk. . .I wanted to make something that was just completely anti-wheel, antimobile.” Though in scale and material \u003ci\u003eAntimobile \u003c/i\u003eis more like a ship’s wheel than a car’s, it remains a penetrating expression of his belief that rampant industrialization had run amok in postwar American society.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"Large polished wooden sculpture resembling a ship wheel mounted on a rectangular wooden base.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:33:49.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:23.242-05:00","images":[{"id":95083,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/3300/69_4a-b_vw1_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"1406","type":"artist"}]}}}}