H. C. Westermann: Exhibition Catalogue and Catalogue Raisonné of Objects
Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen
Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave
Postmodern
Ceramics
by Mark Del Vecchio, 2001, Thames & Hudson, New York, NY, 800-233-4830;
224 pages, illustrated. $45. Reviewed by Patricia Failing
As a marketing hook for 247 color illustrations of recent work by 131 important contemporary ceramic artists from 25 countries, the us-too title of Mark Del Vecchio's survey Postmodern Ceramics will work for many readers. Illustrations are grouped in 12 thematic units, some corresponding to the vocabulary used for other "postmodern" visual art forms in the 1970s and 80s: the postmodern look; post-minimalism; pattern and decoration; the multiple vessel; the image and the vessel; the vessel as image; figural sculpture; organic abstraction; the real/super-real; history, culture and time; abstract sculpture and post-industrialism. Artists in these categories range from Adrian Saxe, Betty Woodman, Akio Takamori, Geert Lap and Kurt Weiser to Judy Fox, Marek Cecula and Edward Eberle. The book includes illustrated biographies of each artist and an introductory essay by Del Vecchio's business partner, Garth Clark.
The wicked witch of modernism is dead, Clark gleefully declares, and ceramics is now free to misbehave—to be "brightly patterned, unconcerned with authorship or originality, ready to quote styles from the medium's long past at the drop of a slip brush and prepared to mine every semiotic meaning inherent in glaze, pottery and utility." The postmodern battle was first joined, he says, when Robert Arneson threw his infamous soda bottle, inscribed "no deposit," at the 1961 California State Fair. Howard Kottler's decal plates of the late 1960s and early 1970s and Michael Frimkess's mid-1960s "melting pots"—classical container forms decorated with comic-book characters-are also named as early markers of postmodern insurrection. London's Royal College of Art emerged as a power in postmodern ceramics in the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to Clark, but European ceramists did not weigh in as postmodernists until the 1980s.
To dispute this genealogy is almost impossible, since "postmodernism" is an empty term for a negative fact-the lack of consensus about the limits and definition of modernism. "Postmodernism" has had a certain utility nevertheless: in the 1960s and 70s the word was used to enumerate what artists in various fields didn't like about established modernist practice, including the international style in architecture, Abstract Expressionist models of heroic subjectivity in painting, Martha Graham's earnest psychodramas in dance and New Criticism in literature.
The exemplar of modernist ceramics in the late 1950s and 60s was certainly Peter Voulkos, whom Kottler, Arneson and Frimkess respected. If these three are postmodern pioneers, what form of modernist ceramic practice were they protesting? Clark hedges the argument here in a significant way. "Much of the ceramic rebellion that led to postmodernism was in reaction to [Bernard] Leach rather than modernism itself," he admits. Since Leach's anti-modernism coincided in certain ways with Bauhaus functionalism, truth to materials and idealization of proletarian culture, Clark concludes that rebelling against Leach produced much the same result as rebelling against modernism.
Here the historical narrative hopelessly breaks down. The modernist avant-garde that mattered most to Kottler and the Funk artists was personified by Marcel Duchamp, who isn't even mentioned in Clark's essay. These artists may have been allergic to Leach, but they affirmed the 20th-century modernism associated with their understanding of Dada. Furthermore, if the roots of "postmodern" ceramics were more firmly linked to a rejection of the Leach/Warren MacKenzie aesthetic, more of ceramics Realpolitik seems to come in focus, such as the disproportionate aversion to the flashy historicism flaunted by artists like Adrian Saxe. Some of Del Vecchio's categories make more sense from this perspective too: the objects in his "post-minimalist" and "abstract sculpture" sections seem indistinguishable from Clement Greenberg-era high modernism, but apparently qualify as "postmodern" [anti-Leach] because they are colorful or architectural in scale. A volume titled "Post-Leach Ceramics" would have a shelf life of zero, but this book, backed by its authors' institutional power, might seriously warp ceramics history if anyone actually knew what it meant.
Patricia Failing
is professor of art history at the University of Washington.
H.
C. Westermann: Exhibition Catalogue and Catalogue Raisonné of Objects
by Michael Rooks and Lynne Warren, 2001, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago, IL, in association with Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, 800-345-1359;
398 pages, contributions by Dennis Adrian and Robert Storr, illustrated.
$95. Reviewed by Tommy Simpson
This catalog of the comprehensive touring exhibition of the sculpture of H. C. Westermann (1922-1981), organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, speaks volumes of delight, with its abundant photographs and four essays describing his life and times, his artistic themes and his spirit. If you are unfamiliar with Westermann, this book will start you on the right foot. As someone familiar with his work, I found that the art-historical commentary supplied many more answers than I had questions, though I would have been pleased to know more about the artist's day-to-day life. Why, for example, did he leave the Allan Frumkin Gallery after 20 years?
Westermann made human-scale objects such as wooden houses, mixed-media figures, environments in glass boxes and ship forms. The images seem to be a visual comment, a reflection on his own joys, pains or humor translated into sculpture. For instance, the metal ships circled by shark fins and housed in glass boxes refer to his World War II experiences in the U.S. Navy. He incorporated bottle caps, chains, golf balls, linoleum, and other common articles as components in his work. Perhaps this is why he has been labeled a folk artist, a neo-Dadaist, a pop artist, a surrealist and even an outsider. For me, the sculptures read like an intense conversation with a good friend.
As a maker of objects, I enjoyed the detailed photographs that document Westermann's craftsmanship and narrative variety. Also evident is his intuitive inventiveness, which act like a map to his heart. Only the actual presence of the sculpture would have been more satisfying. His direct approach to construction makes his work accessible, even with its mysterious elements. One can't help but respond.
Hat's off to Westermann for his everyday courage, his tried and true work ethic and his complete dedication of hand and heart. In so doing he has created an intimate portrait of himself and offered it to be seen by all. Each of us, on our personal journey, feels lucky to find a fellow traveler who will share his/her innermost experiences. H. C. Westermann has given us information to sustain and guide us in our quest. Go take a look!
Tommy Simpson is
an artist-furniture maker and the author of two books.
Jewels
and Jewelry
by Clare Phillips, 2000, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, NY,
800-278-8477; 160 pages, illustrated. $45.
This sampling from
the comprehensive jewelry collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, represents the development of Western jewelry over the last 500
years. After briefly discussing materials, Clare Phillips, a curator in
jewelry and metal at the V & A, offers a "chronology of style,"
from masterpieces of the Middle Ages to artist-made jewelry of the late
20th century, presented in an uncluttered design that does justice to
the works. She concludes with a section on manufacturing and distribution.
Architectural
Ironwork
by Dona Z. Meilach, 2001, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA, 610-593-1777;
240 pages, illustrated. $49.95.
More than 375 examples
of commissioned ironwork by contemporary blacksmiths for commercial buildings
and private residences—gates, staircases and railings, doors, signage,
screens, hardware—are presented along with brief explanatory text
in this pictorial survey. Several historical examples, such as balcony
railings by Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, are included.
Devices
of Wonder:
From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen
by Barbara Maria Stafford and Frances Terpak, 2001, Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles, CA, 800-223-3431; 416 pages, object list by Isotta
Poggi, illustrated. $39.95 paperback.
Cabinets of curiosities,
magic lanterns, models of the eye, microscopes, camera obscuras are among
the objects of visual perception that turn this erudite book, documenting
an exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum, into a Wunderkammer between
covers. Barbara Maria Stafford, a cross-disciplinary scholar, analyzes
the social and cultural intersection between old and new technologies
that augment perception. Photographer Frances Terpak writes on objects
and contexts, discussing the boxes of Joseph Cornell, among other topics.
Mood
River
by Jeffrey Kipnis and Annetta Massie, 2002, Wexner Center for the Arts,
Ohio State University, Columbus, 800-678-6264; 148 pages, 5 contributors,
foreword by Philip Johnson, illustrated. $39.95 paperback.
In "Mood River"—a
play on the theme song of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's—a
survey of more than 2,000 works by 200 artists, designers and design firms
from 12 countries, at the Wexner Center for the Arts (February 3-May 26),
curators Jeffrey Kipnis and Annetta Massie "posit as their premise
the startling coherence of creative flows, revealing and magnifying for
us often surprising simultaneities across diverse practices and disciplines,"
writes Sherri Geldin, the center's director. "Their ambition is no
less than to bottle within the exhibition those fleeting effervescences
and efflorescences that mark a moment and capture the very mood and feel
of our time." Massie notes that they envisioned "an installation
that immersed viewers in a river of art and design while keeping each
distinct. The catalog, with a Day-Glo cover, echoes the installation "flow,"
with undulating "school of fish" arrangements of toothbrushes,
ballpoint pens, automobile taillights, staplers, and "waterfalls"
of cutting-edge chairs. The works demonstrate how industrial objects have
changed since Philip Johnson's landmark 1934 exhibition, "Machine
Art," which inspired this one.
Nuvisavik:
The Place Where We Weave
edited by Maria Von Finckenstein, 2002, Canadian Museum of Civilization,
McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, and University of Washington
Press, Seattle, 206-543-4050; 202 pages, texts by four contributors, illustrated.
$35 paperback.
This book documents
a project begun in the early 1970s to introduce tapestry weaving to Inuit
women in Pangnirtung on Baffin Island in Canada's Northwest Territories.
Still going strong today, the weaving studio started as an economic initiative
backed by the government to help the Inuit bridge the transition between
nomadic camp life and permanent settlement. Two groups created the 48
tapestries shown: elders who provided drawings depicting the traditional
Inuit way of life centered around hunting, and younger women weavers able
to adapt their formidable sewing skills to weaving. "Pangnirtung
tapestries . . . use the woven surface like a canvas in which to paint
a story or image," writes Maria von Finckenstein, curator for contemporary
Inuit art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. "It is the narrative
aspect that interests both participants—drawer and weaver—most."
Deborah Hickman, who headed the weaving studio for three years, notes
that these "hybrid" tapestries are "in keeping with the
Inuit artistic heritage of drawing (incising into ivory) and pictorial
storytelling."
Contemporary
Rugs: Art and Design
by Christopher Farr, Matthew Bourne and Fiona Leslie, 2002, Merrell
Publishers, London, England, distributed by Rizzoli International Publications,
New York, NY, 212-387-3622; 208 pages, foreword by Andrée Putman,
illustrated. $50.
Following a survey
of rug design over the 20th century by Fiona Leslie, a curator at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, this volume presents unique and limited-edition
rugs by more than 50 contemporary designers in Europe and the United States.
A majority of these handwoven, handknotted or gun-tufted works in modern
abstract patterns were produced by Christopher Farr, a London-based rug
design and production company. The book includes biographies of key designers,
a glossary of terms and techniques and an international resource directory.
The
Art of Chess
by Colleen Schafroth, 2002, Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, 800-345-1359;
176 pages, illustrated. $29.95.
Aficionados of chess and casual players alike, not to mention collectors, are likely to dote on this history of the game accompanied by exquisite chess sets presented as miniature sculpture. Dating from the 8th century to the late 20th, and reflecting diverse cultures, the sets are drawn from collections worldwide, with the majority from the Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, Washington. Colleen Schafroth, director of the museum, explores chess from its origins to the present, tracing its evolution from an ancient game of war into an intellectual pursuit. Among the most striking works are a rock crystal set (9th-11th century) from Moorish Spain, a 15th-century carved horn, bone and wood set by a Florentine master turner, a 1922 porcelain edition manufactured in Soviet Russia pitting capitalists against workers, and a late-20th-century U.S. version fashioned out of hardware store nuts and bolts.
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