Control

1968

H. C. Westermann
American, 1922-1981

Status: On View, Gallery 227
Department: Contemporary Art

Artist: H. C. Westermann
Title: Control
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1968
Medium: Wood, plate glass, tar, chicken feathers, sheet copper, brass, and solder
Dimensions: 64.8 × 28.9 × 28.9 cm (25 1/2 × 11 3/8 × 11 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of the Estate of Alan and Dorothy Press in acknowledgment of their family
Reference Number: 2023.2914.1-2

Max Kozloff, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1968), 2 (color ill.), 14, cat. 40.
Alfred Frankenstein, “Satire, Irony, Absurdity in Westermann’s Art” San Francisco Chronicle, April 9, 1971, 42.
Dennis Adrian, Unpublished Transcript of Gallery Talk, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, May 18, 1978): 15.
John Perreault, “An Artist’s Artist” Soho Weekly News (May 25, 1978), 24.
Barbara Haskell, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1978), 61 (color ill.), 92.
Donald Kuspit, “H.C. Westermann: Braving the Absurd” Art in America 67, no. 1 (January-February 1979), 85 (ill)
Neal Benezra, H. C. Westermann: Selections from the Alan and Dorothy Press Collection, exh. brochure (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1987), n.p.
Michael Rooks and Lynne Warren, eds., H. C. Westermann: Exhibition Catalogue and Catalogue Raisonné of Objects, exh. cat. (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art; New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001), 31, 32, fig. 20 (color ill.), 47, 304, MCA cat. rais. 182 (ill.), 338.
Giampaolo Bianconi, Thea Liberty Nichols, and Ed Ruscha, H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), 74, pl. 10, 75-79 (color ills), 106, cat. 10.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, H. C. Westermann, Nov. 26, 1968–Jan. 12, 1969, cat. 40.
New York, Allan Frumkin Gallery, H. C. Westermann, May 2–Jun. 12, 1970, no cat.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, H. C. Westermann, May 17–July 16, 1978, no cat. no.; New Orleans Museum of Art, Aug. 25–Oct. 15, 1978; Des Moines Art Center, Nov. 13–Dec. 25, 1978; Seattle Art Museum, Jan. 17–Feb. 25, 1979; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mar. 30–May 20, 1979.
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, H. C. Westermann: Selections from the Alan and Dorothy Press Collection, Mar. 13–May 3, 1987, no cat. no.
The Art Institute of Chicago, H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker, May 17, 2025–May 17, 2026, cat. 10.

The artist; sold through Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, to Alan (1930-2021) and Dorothy Press (1933-2023), Chicago, Jan. 10, 1972 [invoice, copy in curatorial object file]; their estate; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Aug. 29, 2023.

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