H.C. Westermann

H.C. Westermann (1922–1981) was an American artist whose sculptures, drawings, and prints combined craft traditions, dark humour, autobiographical narrative, and a deeply idiosyncratic visual language that resisted easy classification. Working in wood, metal, and mixed materials, Westermann produced objects that drew on his experiences as a Marine, his interest in popular culture and vernacular form, and a persistent engagement with mortality, absurdity, and the strangeness of American life. Associated at various points with Chicago Imagism and the broader American eccentric tradition, his work remained singular throughout.

Publications collected here document Westermann's practice and its institutional reception, including exhibition catalogues and printed matter through which his work entered museum collections and private hands.

  • Original 1973 Robert Doty, Extraordinary Realities, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Square softcover divided horizontally into two equal bands — upper half in warm amber-orange, lower half in deep cobalt blue — with 'EXTRAORDINARY' in white outlined rounded sans-serif type on the orange field and 'REALITIES' in the same type on the blue field. Spine wear, edge rubbing, and corner creasing consistent with period." nterior title page from 1973 Robert Doty, Extraordinary Realities, Whitney Museum of American Art. Cream page with 'EXTRAORDINARY REALITIES' in large black outlined rounded sans-serif type at top, followed by 'by Robert Doty / with a preface by Edward Gorey / Whitney Museum of American Art, New York' in smaller serif type below.

    Extraordinary Realities — Robert Doty, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1973

    Extraordinary Realities — Robert Doty, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1973