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Lot Essay
“Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything. I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle—a missing piece.”
--Citizen Kane, 1941
Executed in 1963, H.C. Westermann’s Rosebud is not only a refined example of the artist’s skillset self-taught carpentry, but also a sentimental nod to one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time: Citizen Kane. Westermann pays homage to the movie both in title—“Rosebud” is the brand name of a sled that symbolizes the lost youth and innocence of the movie’s protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, and is last word Kane utters on screen—and in design: the repetitive concentric mirrors allude to the moment in the film that Kane staggers out his second wife’s room, stupefied by her having left him, his figure reflected into infinity by the ornate mirrors surrounding him. Westermann self-identified with Kane’s abbreviated youth, feeling pushed into adulthood by the early loss of his mother and his service in both World War II and Korea. The artist considered Rosebud something of an abstract self-portrait, an allusion he solidified by including his initials, “HCW,” on the inner side edge of the box. The stamped letters are multiplied by the succession of mirrors, thus allowing Westermann to figuratively replace Kane as the protagonist of his own crafted narrative.
H.C. Westermann’s dedication to woodwork and craft was often in direct opposition to the accepted forms of art of the 1950s and 1960s, an age that burgeoned with mechanized production. He became well-known for his unconventional approaches, an association he shared with the American sculptor Elie Nadelman. Westermann dedicated Rosebud to Nadelman, perhaps in reciprocity, perhaps in kindred spirit: who more than Nadelman could appreciate his refined construction, his impeccable attention to detail, the visual and thematic complexity of his finished product?
“The painstaking manner with which Westermann finishes his objects and his attention to the grain and color of the wood reflects his feelings of reverence for the beauty and individual character of his materials. He employs traditional construction methods such as dovetailed corners and doweled joints, and although he utilizes power tools, all filing and finishing are done by hand. This system of values in which uncompromising, utterly honest craftsmanship combines with strength and durability correlates to Westermann’s personal value structure.” (Barbara Haskell, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1978, pp. 16-17.)
--Citizen Kane, 1941
Executed in 1963, H.C. Westermann’s Rosebud is not only a refined example of the artist’s skillset self-taught carpentry, but also a sentimental nod to one of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time: Citizen Kane. Westermann pays homage to the movie both in title—“Rosebud” is the brand name of a sled that symbolizes the lost youth and innocence of the movie’s protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, and is last word Kane utters on screen—and in design: the repetitive concentric mirrors allude to the moment in the film that Kane staggers out his second wife’s room, stupefied by her having left him, his figure reflected into infinity by the ornate mirrors surrounding him. Westermann self-identified with Kane’s abbreviated youth, feeling pushed into adulthood by the early loss of his mother and his service in both World War II and Korea. The artist considered Rosebud something of an abstract self-portrait, an allusion he solidified by including his initials, “HCW,” on the inner side edge of the box. The stamped letters are multiplied by the succession of mirrors, thus allowing Westermann to figuratively replace Kane as the protagonist of his own crafted narrative.
H.C. Westermann’s dedication to woodwork and craft was often in direct opposition to the accepted forms of art of the 1950s and 1960s, an age that burgeoned with mechanized production. He became well-known for his unconventional approaches, an association he shared with the American sculptor Elie Nadelman. Westermann dedicated Rosebud to Nadelman, perhaps in reciprocity, perhaps in kindred spirit: who more than Nadelman could appreciate his refined construction, his impeccable attention to detail, the visual and thematic complexity of his finished product?
“The painstaking manner with which Westermann finishes his objects and his attention to the grain and color of the wood reflects his feelings of reverence for the beauty and individual character of his materials. He employs traditional construction methods such as dovetailed corners and doweled joints, and although he utilizes power tools, all filing and finishing are done by hand. This system of values in which uncompromising, utterly honest craftsmanship combines with strength and durability correlates to Westermann’s personal value structure.” (Barbara Haskell, H. C. Westermann, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1978, pp. 16-17.)