The Connecticut Ballroom Suite (Holding box)

H. C. Westermann

1922–1981

The Connecticut Ballroom Suite (Holding box), 1975–1976

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: plywood

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 27 3/4 x 34 1/4 x 1 1/4 in
Weight (Weight): 18 lbs

Credit line: Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Fund, Friends of the Art Museum, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Nadeau, Richard Belger, Hollander Family Foundation, in memory of Richard Hollander

Accession number: 1993.0034.01

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Conversation VIII: Serious Play," Jun-2010, Kate Meyer and Susan Earle
When we play we have fun.
If we are just playing, we do not “mean it”-we are not serious. But play may not always be light-hearted. When we watch two teams play a sport the athletes are committed to their activity. The ability to play a musical instrument requires years of hard practice. Cartoons can be playful but a political cartoon uses an accessible visual style to comment on society. Anyone who has been teased by someone who was “just playing” can still be hurt by those words. Randy Regier and H.C. Westermann explore American mass culture from the 1950s, including children’s toys and cartoons, to comment on the interaction of Americans with their landscape, race, death, disaster, and an uncertain future. The artists share a commitment to craftsmanship, an engaging, playful style, and an unquestionable seriousness of purpose.

Archive Label 2003:
In his Connecticut Ballroom Suite H.C. Westermann summarizes much of his inventory of personal and idiosyncratic subjects. These concern tough issues of death, love, and the American Dream (or in his words, “a country gone nuts”). Westermann’s stories make use of emblem-like symbols culled from his years of service in the Navy: anchors, shark fins, airplanes, and his greatest preoccupation, the death ship. Westermann worked extensively in sculpture and his love of materials and of craft is proudly announced on the title page.