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Untitled ("J & C Box")
Untitled ("J & C Box")
Untitled ("J & C Box")

Untitled ("J & C Box")

Maker (American, 1922-1981)
Date1959
MediumWood (pine), metals (brass, welding filler, sterling silver, electroplated nickel silver), glass, mirror, wood glue, enamel or glass (?), ink, paper, porcelain, cotton, paint.
Dimensions16 1/4 x 13 x 10 in. (41.3 x 33 x 25.4 cm)
Credit LineThe H.C. Westermann Study Collection, Gift of the Estate of Joanna Beall Westermann
CopyrightArt © Estate of Lester Beall/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Collections
Object number2002.118
Status
Not on view
Description

H.C. Westermann could be said to be a bricoleur(the French term for “tinkerer”). In both material and meaning he engaged in bricolage—a process where something is constructed or created from a diverse range of things that happen to be at hand.


“The bricoleur derives his poetry from the fact that he does not confine himself to accomplishment and execution: he speaks not only with things, but also through the medium of things: giving an account of his personality and life by the choices he makes between the limited possibilities.” —Claude Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind (1962)