Joseph Cornell: Shadowplay...Eterniday - Hardcover

Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe; Hopps, Walter; Vine, Richard; Lehrman, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500976287 ISBN 13: 9780500976289

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2003

Synopsis

“The American Surrealist sculptor who evoked enchanting, metaphysical worlds by magical combinations of found objects in small boxes . . . a wonderful introduction to the artist’s world.” ―Wall Street Journal

Originally published to celebrate the centennial of Joseph Cornell’s birth, this book provides a multidimensional perspective on the pioneering modern artist. Lavishly illustrated with more than seventy-five boxes and collages, as well as images of the fascinating source material that the artist collected to create his exquisitely crafted worlds, it communicates to the reader the sense of surprise and delight that one experiences on viewing the actual boxes with their toys, stuffed birds, maps, clay pipes, marbles, shells, and other paraphernalia of daily life. The book’s essays bring together the expertise of Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, former director of the Joseph Cornell Study Center; the compelling commentary of Walter Hopps, art dealer, museum curator and director, and the artist’s personal friend; the wide-ranging scholarship of Richard Vine; and the sensitivity of Robert Lehrman, a leading Cornell collector whose firsthand experience lends this publication its distinctive intimacy. Among the topics explored are the role of dualities in the artistic process, the dominant themes of Cornell’s oeuvre, and the importance of his Christian Science faith. 231 illustrations, 205 in color

About this title

About the Author:

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is Chief Curator of the Peabody Essex Museum and former director of the Joseph Cornell Study Center.

Walter Hopps is an art dealer and museum curator and director.

Richard Vine is a wide-ranging scholar.

Robert Lehrman is a leading Cornell collector.

From Publishers Weekly:

The title of this extensive survey of Joseph Cornell's work, which ranges from his early collages to his famous "boxes," is drawn from Cornell's own designation for a concept of time indicating the eternal within the everyday. This idea very much informs the attitude of the various contributors to the volume-which comes with a DVD-ROM (not seen by PW) and is published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Cornell's birth-who concentrate more on the mystical and emotional aspects of Cornell's work, as opposed to the conceptual or technical. While this inevitably leads to a preoccupation with Cornell's religious and sexual preferences, it also lends a charming accessibility and warmth to the text. The contributors do not hesitate to infuse their comments on individual pieces with their own personal experience with the work, which should particularly help neophytes of Cornell's work understand his appeal to such a broad spectrum of viewers. On Cornell's "Untitled [`Dovecote' American Gothic]," Hartigan writes, "I placed this box by my favorite chair, and over the years came to experience a serene sense of comfort and companionship embodied in the simple whitewashed habitation." More than 200 color illustrations of Cornell's work (along with 30 b&w) are placed against black backgrounds and categorized into topics meant to reflect Cornell's own fascinations, such as "Chests and Cabinets," "Habitats," "Aviaries" and "Celestial Navigation Variants." While the darkness of the backgrounds conveys to a certain extent the mysteriousness of Cornell's work, it also obscures some of the more shadowed pieces, and the categories, occasionally only three or four pages long, can seem arbitrary and exclusionary. However, the sheer sumptuousness of the reproductions and the personal enthusiasm of the authors, along with Cornell's own undeniable mystique, does much to overcome this, making the volume a fine introduction to an often misunderstood artist.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0500976287
• ISBN 13: 9780500976289
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272