Edited and with introduction by Kynaston McShine. Essays by Dawn Ades, Carter Ratcliff, P. Adams Sitney, and Lynda Roscoe Hartigan.
Joseph Cornell, maker of collages, constructions, and experimental films, has been a mysterious figure in the New York art world since his montages and Glass Bell (surmounting a mannequin’s hand and a rose implanted with an eye) were included in the Julien Levy gallery’s Surrealism show in 1932. Cornell lived most of his life on Utopia Parkway in New York’s borough of Queens. His occupation in the early years was that of textile salesman, but his inner life encompassed music, literature, ballet, theater – in short, the arts in all their manifestations. Following his inclusion in the 1932 show, he began to make shadow boxes, creating a universe of his own within each box. His basement workshop became the repository of a large collection of unrelated objects – empty cages, mirrors, clay pipes, postage stamps, marbles, thimbles, charts of the stars, rare books, art reproductions. From these disparate elements he fashioned a great variety of works – aviaries, habitats, pharmacies, hotels, homages to the Romantic ballet, and penny arcades.
Published by Prestel, 1995
Hardcover with 296 pages
11 x 8 3/4 inches (27.94 x 22.22 cm)
Out of print
Condition: Clean, flat copy. Book jacket has Brodart cover.
