Name: H.C. WESTERMANN (1922-1981)
Brand: Untitled (St. Louis Arch)
Price: 55000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

H.C. WESTERMANN (1922-1981)
Untitled (St. Louis Arch)
signed and dated 'H.C. Westermann 11/21/63' (right side edge of base)
printed paper collage on wood, tin toys, string and metal hardware
16 x 11 x 13 ⅞ in. (40.6 x 27.9 x 35.2 cm.)
Executed in 1963.

Leslie Laskey, St. Louis, acquired directly from the artist
B.C. Denton Works of Art, Seattle
Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York
Collection of Laila Twigg-Smith, Honolulu
By descent from the above to the present owner

M. Rooks and L. Warren, eds., H.C. Westermann: Exhibition Catalogue and Catalogue Raisonné of Objects, exh. cat., Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, 2001, p. 372, no. MCA 341 (illustrated).

New York, Frumkin/Adams Gallery, H.C. Westermann: Sculpture, Watercolors, Letters and Prints,September-October 1989.
Honolulu, The Contemporary Museum, Concentrations 2: H.C. Westermann, September-November 1994.

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Lot Essay

The present lot, Untitled (St. Louis Arch) is a perfect example of H.C. Watermann’s signature folkloric assemblage. The work features a replica of the St.Louis Gateway Arch, with a tin toy plane poised to fly through the minute monument. Plastered with comic book pages and a map of St. Louis, the work imbues Westermann’s childlike sense of adventure.

While instilled with these playful qualities, Untitled (St. Louis Arch) also served to document the construction of this now historic landmark. Westermann’s work preceded completion of the real-life monument as the plans were widely published. Once the monument was completed in 1967, actual pilots were known to reenact the daring flight that Westermann so acutely imagined.