Joseph CornellAmerican Sculptor

1903-1972

Jospeh Cornell had no formal training in art

and his most characteristic works

are his highly distinctive `boxes'. These are simple

boxes, usually glass-fronted, in which he arranged surprising

collections of photographs or

Victorian bric-a-brac.

Cornell was fascinated not by refuse, garbage, and the discarded, but by fragments of once beautiful and precious objects, relying on the Surrealist technique of irrational juxtaposition and on the evocation of nostalgia for his appeal.

He also painted and made Surrealist films.

The Hotel Eden c. 1945, construction, 15 1/8 x

15 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches

He lived in a small house on Utopia

Parkway in Flushing, a suburb of New York City.

He shared his house with his

mother, his brother…and

hundreds of file boxes and files full of fascinating stuff that inspired his

artwork.

untitled -Medici Princess-,

mixed media, c1948.

He liked living near New York, and he loved

exploring its streets and neighborhoods. Old books,

records, photographs, movie films, theater programs—--the shops he visited were

full of these things. He collected whatever struck

his fancy, no matter how old or ordinary it might look to

someone else.

Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery,

mixed media, 1943.

Joseph Cornell was very shy and often sad, but he said that his boxes gave him "a world of complete happiness."

An ideal world is sometimes called a

utopia. Isn't it odd that Cornell make his "happy

world" in a cluttered basement studio on

Utopia Parkway?

untitled -Solar Set-,

mixed media, c1956-58

The Admiral's Game, ca. 1950American Sculpture

Mixed media

12 in. x 18 in. x 4 in. (30.48 cm x 45.72 cm x 10.16 cm) (overall)

L'Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode,

cours élémentaire d'histoire naturelle 1940 Construction,

4 11/16 x 10 11/16 x 7 1/4 in

A Parrot for Juan Gris Winter 1953-54 Construction,

17 3/4 x 12 3/16 x 4 5/8 in

Untitled (Cockatoo and Corks)

c. 1948 Construction,

14 3/8 x 13 1/2 x 5 5/8 in

Web Resources used in this presentation

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/ http://www.sackville.ednet.ns.ca/art/gallery/exhibit/pop/cornell.html

http://americanart.si.edu/education/cappy/13acornellbio.html