H.C. Westermann
As a boy growing up in Los Angeles, Horace Clifford (Cliff) Westermann had an amazing childhood. He built carts, scooters and airplanes. When he was a teenager, in order to have his own room, he built an addition to his parents' home out of scrap wood. He submitted drawings of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to the Disney Studios, and Disney offered him a job, only to take back the offer when they found out how young he was. During World War II he served in the U.S. Marine Corps on the aircraft carrier Enterprise. Later he fought in the Korean War, then toured the country as an acrobat! In addition, he created imaginative, humorous and thoughtful sculptures.
Westermann called this sculpture "Memorial to the Idea of Man if He Was an Idea." Although Westermann claimed that this sculpture was not about him, there are some similarities. The tattoo on this memorial is the same tattoo that Westermann had on his arm. Inside the cabinet he spelled "HC W" in bottle caps, an acrobat is one of the two toys inside the cabinet and a sinking battleship is on the bottom shelf.
Westermann's sculptures and selected drawings are currently on view at MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary, 152 N. Central Ave. in Little Tokyo. You can see his humanoid sculptures, boxes, houses, boats, machines and tableaux, or scenes. H.C. Westermann Robot Workshops for children ages 9 to 14 start on July 13 and continue for the next five Saturdays. For registration information, call (213) 621-1751 or visit www.moca.org.
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This Learning Link was provided by the education department for MOCA in downtown Los Angeles.
