• What is inscribed on the box? What does it refer to?
• Where on this box do we see signs of Westermann’s artistic skills?
• Describe the qualities of walnut wood, based on your observation of Walnut Box.

About the artwork
In the mid-1960s Westermann began to create wooden boxes that were titled after their materials, including Plywood Box (1964) and Mahogany Box (1965). He had previously fashioned boxes as gifts to friends, recalling the decorative boxes made by his grandfather George Bloom, a cabinetmaker. In both cabinetmaking and woodworking, the artist must measure, cut, and join the wood pieces carefully. We can see such precision in Walnut Box in the dovetail joinery and in the carefully fitted and hinged lid.

Walnut Box is a pun on its title. On the exterior, Westermann has inlaid—in walnut—the inscription “Walnut Box” on the top of this box made of American walnut wood. Opening the lid, we see that the interior of this walnut box holds a cache of walnuts in their shells (mentioned also in the text on the lid’s interior). The color of these nuts varies noticeably from that of the box, thus calling attention to the notion that two apparently dissimilar things can be true at the same time. Just as the artist made an Antimobile that moves and ironically invited us to see America first, here he uses the humorous device of paradox to show us more than one aspect of a walnut box. 

Woman from Indianapolis (Columbia, Missouri), 1967

Looking questions

• How many people do you see in this print? What are they doing? Do they have anything in common?
• What is the setting? How do you know?
• Why do you think a brontosaurus is in this scene?

About the artwork
This lithograph features a Sinclair gas station on a street corner in Columbia, Missouri. In the center, the headless body of Westermann (identifiable from the anchor tattoo on his forearm) holds a spraying garden hose while standing near his truck. Two shadowy figures in the foreground appear to advance and retreat from one another. Above the gas station rise four onion-shaped domes, one of which includes a crescent indicating that it is a mosque (see related artwork The Connecticut Ballroom). Hovering near the domes is the disembodied head of a woman. Westermann includes lettering to explain (“Sinclair,” “gas”), situate (“woman from Indianapolis,” “Columbia, Mo. ‘67”), and identify (“Westermann”) the work’s key components.

Westermann integrated personal experience with his creative imagination to create this work. In February 1967, he and his wife Joanna Beall Westermann drove to Kansas City in a newly purchased truck to begin a collaboration that would result in his first series of lithographs, of which this is one. (See Looking at Printmaking) Based on a drawing that Westermann made while filling his gas tank during the journey to Kansas City, the print is simply and carefully composed, with a predominance of curved lines that convey movement and character. Only one contrary note strikes the eye: the famous Sinclair dinosaur is shown in reverse, indicating Westermann’s still developing skills as a printmaker (printmakers draw things on the printmaking surface the reverse of how they want them to appear on the print).

Discussion questions

• Text is included in both of these works. How does its inclusion alter the meaning of the artworks? What if there were no words incorporated?
• How would you characterize Westermann’s use of humor in these works? Deadpan? Absurd?
• How does Woman from Indianapolis show the influence of popular culture?

Interdisciplinary activities
Grade level: Younger students (6-8)
Objective: Practice adjective usage and demonstrate an understanding of visual elements.
Both works demonstrate Westermann’s practice of using inscriptions. These inscriptions might include a list of the work’s materials, as in Walnut Box and The Connecticut Ballroom. Have students write the name of a material on a piece of paper (e.g., wood, fabric). Next, have students write an adjective on a separate piece of paper (e.g., fuzzy, juicy). Then have students place their “materials” in a hat and their adjectives in a separate hat. Have each student select a piece of paper from each hat. Together the pieces of paper represent an inscription (e.g. fuzzy wood). Next, have students create a work of art that includes the inscription and depicts it in an original manner.

Grade level: Younger students (6-8)
Objective: Demonstrate an understanding of verbal humor.
The Sinclair gas sign is a familiar one from the 1960s. Assign students to create a humorous slogan for the Sinclair sign. Next, students should prepare a drawing of this sign in ink, pencil, or charcoal that shows the image in reverse, as if it were ready to be printed. Then have students etch their drawing into a print foam board or Styrofoam plate with a pencil, ink it, and print it on paper. Have students discuss the process of creating an image in the reverse. What modifications did they need to make? 

Grade level: Older students (9-12)
Objective: Use literary devices such as paradox and incongruity.
Have students create a humorous account of a place they have recently visited. Students should incorporate exaggeration, incongruity, or paradox to emphasize the humorous aspects of this experience.