The Big Change

1963

H. C. Westermann
American, 1922-1981

Status: On View, Gallery 227
Department: Contemporary Art

Artist: H. C. Westermann
Title: The Big Change
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.: 1963
Medium: Douglas-fir marine plywood, Masonite, and ink
Dimensions: 191.5 × 51.5 × 51.5 cm (75 3/8 × 20 1/4 × 20 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of the Estate of Alan and Dorothy Press in acknowledgment of their family
Reference Number: 2023.2906

Samuel J. Wagstaff, 11 New England Sculptors: Catalog of the Exhibition, exh. cat. (Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1963), n.p., cat. 63 (ill.).
Dorothy Adlow, “Sculptors Explore in New England” Christian Science Monitor, July 26, 1963, 4 (ill.).
Allan Frumkin Gallery, Recent Sculpture by H.C. Westermann, exh. cat. (New York: Allan Frumkin Gallery, 1963), title page (ill.), n.p., cat. 16 (ill.).
Brian O’Doherty, “Art: Westermann Show, New Works Are Seen at Frumkin Gallery” New York Times, Oct. 14, 1963), 26 (ill.).
Robina C. Clark, ed., “Westermann Sculpture Exhibited on One-Man Show in New York” Danbury News Times (CT), Oct, 17, 1963, 16 (ill.).
Dore Ashton, “New York Report” Das Kunstwerk 17 (December 1963): 23.
Barbara Rose, “New York Letter” Art International 7, no. 9 (December 1963): 63.
Joshua Kind, “Sphinx of the Plains: A Chicago Visual Idiom” Chicago Review 17, no. 2/3 (1964): 50
John Maxon and A. James Speyer, 67th Annual American Exhibition: Directions in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1964), n.p., cat. 87 (ill.).
Franz Schulze, “Good Show, Splendid Concept” Chicago Daily News, 1964, 3 (ill.).
Francine du Plessix, “William Copley, The Artist As Collector,” Art In America, 53, no. 6 (Dec. 1965-Jan. 1966), 36 (ill.).
Dennis Adrian, “The Art of H.C. Westermann” Artforum 6, no. 1 (Sept. 1967): 20.
Max Kozloff, H.C. Westermann, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1968), 13, cat. 23, 28 (ill.).
Allen Weller, The Joys and Sorrows of Recent American Art (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1968),73, n.p., pl. 75 (ill.).
Melinda Terbell, “In the Museums: Bengston and Westermann” Arts Magazine 43, no. 3 (December 1968-January 1969), 56.
Whitney Halstead and Dennis Adrian, Made in Chicago (Washington D.C.: National Collection of Fine Arts by the Smithsonian Institution Press 1974), 19.
Donald Kuspit, “Regionalism Reconsidered” Art in America 64, no. 4 (July-Aug. 1976), 66 (ill.).
Marcia Tucker, et. al. Critical Perspectives in American Art, exh. cat. (Amherst, MA: Fine Arts Center Gallery, University of Massachusetts, 1976) 39, as The Big Change, 1968.
Barbara Haskell, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1978), 18, 23 (ill.), 91.
Dennis Adrian, Unpublished Transcript of Gallery Talk, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, May 18, 1978, 11.
Gerald Marzorati, “H.C. Westermann: Built to Last” Soho Weekly News, May 25, 1978, 24.
Frank Merkling, “Westermann: Colorful Past, Colorful Present” NewsTimes (Danbury, CT), June 27, 1978a, n.p. (ill.)
William Wilson, “Birds Eye View of Vignettes in the Urban Landscape” Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1978, 80 (ill.).
David Bourdon, “H.C. Westermann Sculptures” Vogue (U.S.) 168, no. 8 (Aug. 1, 1978), 40.
Victoria Kirsch Melcher, “Artist Keeps Fear of Death at Bay” Kansas City Star (Dec. 24, 1978), 11D.
Donald Kuspit, “H.C. Westermann: Braving the Absurd” Art in America 67, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1979), 85.
Ron Glowen, “H.C. Westermann Retrospective” Artweek 10, no. 7 (Feb. 1979), 1.
Dennis Adrian, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat. (London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1980), n.p., cat. 9 (ill.).
“Artist Carved New Territory with Humor, Craftsmanship” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 9, 1981 (ill.).
Laszlo Glozer, Westkunst: Zeitgenössische Kunst seit 1939, (Cologne: DuMont, 1981), 273 (ill.).
Sally Eauclaire, “Comment: H.C. Westermann” The Workshop (Summer 1983), 8
William McNaught, “H.C. Westermann” Archives of American Art Journal 24, no. 2 (1984), 35 (ill.)
Russell Bowman, “Words and Images: A Persistent Paradox” Art Journal 45, no. 4 (Winter 1985), 339.
Coosje van Bruggen, Bruce Nauman, (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1988), 110, 140 (ill.).
Kenneth Baker, “Promising Start for New Art Book House” San Francisco Chronicle (Apr. 9, 1989), 14 (ill.).
Ray Kass, “H.C. Westermann” Artforum 27, no. 6 (Feb. 1989), 132 (ill.).
David McCracken, “A transformation from the mean streets” Chicago Tribune (Nov. 29, 1991), F76.
David King, Melani McKim-King, and John Fitz Gibbon, H.C. Westermann: West, exh. cat. (Richmond, CA: Richmond Art Center, 1997), 62 (ill.), 72 (ill.).
Michael Rooks, Lynne Warren, Dennis Adrian, and Robert Storr, H.C. Westermann: Exhibition Catalogue and Catalogue Raisonné of Objects, exh. cat. (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001), 28, 111, pl. 37 (color ill.), 253 MCA cat rais. 73 (ill).
Michael Rooks, Lynne Warren, Dennis Adrian, and Robert Storr, H.C. Westermann: Exhibition Catalogue, exh. cat. (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001), 28, 111, pl. 37, (color ill.), 191.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, H.C. Westermann, exh. pamphlet (Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, 2002), n.p., back (color ill.).
Dennis Adrian, Germano Celant, Martin Friedman, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat. (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2017), 8 (ill.), 11.
Giampaolo Bianconi, Thea Liberty Nichols, and Ed Ruscha, H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), front end sheet (color ill.), 10 (color ill.), 17, pl. 3, 50, pl. 3, 51-55 (color ills.), back end sheet (color ill.), 106, cat. 3.

Hartford, CT, Wadsworth Atheneum, Eleven New England Sculptors, July 18–Sept. 15, 1963, cat. 63.
New York, Allan Frumkin Gallery, Recent Sculpture by H. C. Westermann, Oct. 8–26, 1963, cat. 16.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 67th Annual American Exhibition: Directions in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Feb. 28–Apr. 12, 1964, cat. 87.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, H. C. Westermann, Nov. 26, 1968–Jan. 12, 1969, cat. 23.
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.
London, Serpentine Gallery, H. C. Westermann, Dec. 5, 1980–Feb. 8, 1981, cat. 9.
New York, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., H. C. Westermann: Sculpture and Drawing, Oct. 7–Nov. 19, 1988, no cat no.
New York, Frumkin/Adams Gallery, H. C. Westermann: Sculpture from the 1960s, Jan. 5–28, 1995, cat. 11.
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, H. C. Westermann, Jun. 30–Sept. 23, 2001, cat. 37; Washington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Feb. 14–May 12, 2002; Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Jun. 9–Sept. 8, 2002; Houston, Menil Collection, Oct. 4, 2002–Jan. 5, 2003.
The Art Institute of Chicago, H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker, May 17, 2025–May 17, 2026, cat. 3.

The artist; probably sold through Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, to William N. Copley, New York, by Feb. 1964 [Speyer 1964]; given to Billy Copley and Patricia Bundrage, New York, on the occasion of their wedding, Nov. 1983 [email from the William N. Copley Estate, Apr. 5, 2024; copy in curatorial object file]; sold through Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, to Alan (1930-2021) and Dorothy Press (1933-2023), Chicago, Jan. 7, 2004 [copy of invoice in curatorial object file]; their estate; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Aug. 29, 2023.

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