Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Assemblage, influenced by the lighter side of Surrealism.
Date and Place of Birth:
December 24, 1903, Nyack, New York
Life:
Joseph Cornell was a rather solitary figure in both the Art World and the world-at-large. He lived his entire life in the same house in Queens, surviving his mother / housemate by mere months. Wonderfully untrained, his trinket-filled, nostalgic, whimsical boxes were a never-before-seen medium (which lacked the descriptive name "assemblages" until a MoMA show in 1961). Rightfully best known for his constructions, Cornell also wrote poetry and created quite a number of short, experimental films.
Important Works:
- • Medici Slot Machine (1942; part of the "Medici" series)
- • Untitled (The Hotel Eden) (1945; part of the "Hotel" series)
- • Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait of Lauren Bacall) (1945-46; part of the "Penny Arcade" series)
- • Untitled (Aviary with Parrot and Drawers) (1949; part of the "Aviary" series)
Date and Place of Death:
December 29, 1972, Flushing, New York
Recommended Books About Joseph Cornell:
- Waldman, Diane. Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams. Harry N. Abrams, 2002.
- Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe; Vine, Richard; Lehrman, Robert; Cornell, Joseph ; Hopps, Walter. Joseph Cornell: Shadowplay ... Eterniday. Thames and Hudson, 2003.
- Schaffner, Ingrid. The Essential Joseph Cornell. Harry N. Abrams, 2003.
- Prestel Postcard Books. Joseph Cornell: Postcards. Prestel, 2000.
- Baverstock, Alison. Secrets in a Box (Adventures in Art). Prestel, 2003.
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