H. C. Westermann
American, 1922-1981
The Mysteriously Abandoned New Home
INV-1556
H. C. Westermann
American, 1922-19811958
The Mysteriously Abandoned New Home
H. C. Westermann American, 1922-1981 →sculpturemodern and contemporary art
Date
1958
Medium
Pine, birch, vermillion, redwood, glass, paint, and wheels
Dimensions
212.3 × 57.4 × 55.2 cm (83 5/8 × 22 5/8 × 21 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Lewis Manilow
American printmaker and sculptor H. C. Westermann became known in the 1960s for playfully subversive works of art often made from found objects. The artist borrowed strategies from his Dadaist and Surrealist predecessors and created an oeuvre that defies stylistic definition and classification. This sculpture is characteristic of Westermann's exceptional carpentry skills. When describing The Mysteriously Abandoned New Home, Westermann wrote of the large octagonal canopy over a merry-go-round at Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park. The work is also reminiscent of the octagonal architectural forms that were popular in the United States in the 19th century.
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