Objects by Joseph Cornell, Used (5 results)

Single sheet, folded as issued. Reproducing a drawing by Cornell on one side (titled "Bilboquet") and text of verso. Printed blue on white. Mild wear. Very good or better overall. Scarce exhibition announcement for Joseph Cornell's second show, held seven years after his first, also at the Julien Levy Gallery. Levy's 57th Street location was in many ways ground zero for Surrealism, Dada, and experimental film in the States and his gallery mounted important exhibitions by Duchamp, Ernst, Magritte, Kahlo, as well as Cornell, throughout the 1930s and 40s. Includes a text by the artist's friend Parker Tyler, who according to Cornell biographer Deborah Solomon likely "gave Cornell the impetus to exhibit his work again after such a long hiatus. Their friendship appears to have enabled Cornell to muster renewed confidence in his art" (UTOPIA PARKWAY p. 102). And the exhibit itself was groundbreaking, arranged so that visitors entered "a small sitting room designed by the artist to resemble a walk-in fairy tale. The lights were turned down, and thimbles, dolls, and bits of broken glass could be found both in and out of shadow boxes. In other words, the room itself was a work of art a box in its own right and remains an unsung forerunner of installation art" (ibid, 105). No copies located in OCLC, and we do not find an example among Cornell's papers at the Smithsonian though there does appear to be one among Levy's papers at U. Penn. Rare ephemera from an early and important event in Cornell's career. [Daniel A. Starr #229 in JOSEPH CORNELL, McShine, Kynaston (editor, MoMA 1990)].

Ephemera. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. The scarce December 1942 announcement card from the Julien Levy Gallery over its Joseph Cornell / Marcel Duchamp / Laurence Vail 3-artist show. A bright, well-preserved example of the fragile card, which measures 5 1/2" wide x 4 7/8" tall. Clean and Near Fine in its mustard yellow, with collage-work on both sides of the card.

Single sheet. Condition: Near Fine. The wonderful announcement for Joseph Cornell's December 10th-26th, 1940 solo show at New York's Julien Levy Gallery. A modest, small sheet of paper which unfolds elegantly into 5 printed flaps (on EACH side), celebrating Cornell's legendary collecting and his whimsy. With illustrations and acknowledgements of "soap bubble sets", "shadow boxes", "minutiae", "daguerreotypes", "miniature glass bells", etc. Plus an "Homage to Romantic Ballet" and 3 of its star dancers (Marie Taglioni, Fanny Cerrito and Carlotta Grisi). The announcement is clean and vey bright, and, unfolded, almost resembles a cross. And finally, this copy also boasts superb provenance, having come directly from Joseph Cornell's family and, before that, from Cornell's house itself, famously on Utopia Parkway in Flushing, Queens (New York).

Single sheet. Condition: Near Fine. The scarce September-October 1948 announcement and catalogue for this Joeph Cornell exhibition at the Copley Galleries of Beverly Hills. A clean, crisp single sheet, folded into 4 panels. On the front panels, Cornell collage work in a white backdrop, on the rear panels the catalogue itself plus an elaborate lunar orbit in a surreal navy-blue relief.

Ephemera. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. The uncommon announcement for the Joseph Cornell December 1939-January 1940 "Exhibition of Objects", held at New York's formidable Julien Levy Gallery. Bright and Near Fine in its single pictorial sheet, folded once to create 4 separate panels. The rear panel features a full-page essay by Parker Tyler (leading New York surrealist thought of as Joseph Cornell's closest friend) and the other panels highlight "Biblioquet", a Cornell collage from the exhibition.