Prof. David McCarthy, art historian and chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Rhodes College, has written extensively about American veteran and famed artist H.C. Westermann (1922-1981) and how American artists have responded to and depicted the causes and effects of war in their art.
McCarthy has helped to organize a two-day event in Memphis—presented by Crosstown Arts and Rhodes College’s Lillian and Morrie Moss Endowment for the Visual Arts—featuring the 3-D documentary film, Westermann: Memorial to the Idea of Man If He Was an Idea. Released by Pentimenti Productions in 2023, the film has been playing at theaters, museums, and film festivals nationwide. It focuses on Westermann’s compelling journey to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder through art making.
Westermann is known for his wood sculptures and mixed-media objects that touched on themes of despair and horror as well as hope, playfulness, and beauty. As a young man, he worked in logging camps in the Pacific Northwest, experienced combat as a marine in World War II and the Korean War, and toured Asia as a performing acrobat with the United Service Organizations (USO). He launched his career as an artist in Chicago in the 1950s and exhibited frequently in New York City for the rest of his life. In 1978, the Whitney Museum of American Art staged a major retrospective of his work, and by the 1980s, exhibitions of Westermann’s works were held across the U.S. and internationally.
On Wednesday, Sept. 25, Rhodes will host a panel discussion about the artist, film, and the ways artists, in general, are remembered for their accomplishments. It begins at 6 p.m. in Blount Auditorium. All attendees from the public are asked to register.
McCarthy will be on the panel, which includes Leslie Buchbinder, writer and director of Westermann; Brian Ashby, producer and editor at Pentimenti Productions; and Michael Rooks, senior curator at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Crosstown Arts will be screening the film at 7 p.m. in the Crosstown Theater, located at 1350 Concourse Ave. Admission is $5 at the door, which opens at 6:30 p.m.
According to Pentimenti Productions, “The film reveals ways in which Westermann protected his empathic spirit – and sanity – by ‘sculpting’ his body, artworks, friendships, his hand-hewn house, and his art-filled letters to his dearest friends and family.”