Joseph Cornell/Marcel Duchamp --in resonance

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0939594471 ISBN 13: 9780939594474

Publisher: Distributed in North and South America by D.A.P., Distributed Art Publishers, 1998

This book chronicles the friendship and working relationship between two of the twentieth century's most innovative and influential artists--Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp. The focus of this book is the box compiled by Cornell and dedicated to his friend Duchamp: the Duchamp Dossier, c. 1934-53, a hitherto publicly unknown artwork discovered in the artist's estate following his death.

Review:

Joseph Cornell/Marcel Duchamp... In Resonance is a beautiful catalog of works by both of the artists, accompanied by eight essays that explore their work and their relationship. These essays include marvelous anecdotes and information about both the personal and artistic lives of the artists and how deeply they influenced one another. Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was a somewhat reclusive American artist from Queens, New York, who was known for his small theatrical box constructions. Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was born in France and was an integral part of the avant-garde art world--he is often called the father of contemporary art. The focus of the book revolves around the "Duchamp Dossier," a varied collection of objects from Duchamp that Cornell collected. "There's no way of knowing whether the dossier was made in collaboration with Duchamp or whether Duchamp knew of it at all, although it seems likely that he may have suspected it existed. It contained various things that Duchamp had clearly given to Cornell." The complete contents of the dossier are reproduced in this volume at 60 percent of their actual size.

What is so fascinating about the dossier is that it is something of a physical map of the interactions between Cornell and Duchamp. Along with the photo reproductions there is a complete and extremely detailed inventory of the dossier, including such information as the text of letters and type of postage. Also in the book is a comprehensive chronology of the lives of both artists. The book, a hefty 344 pages, includes 126 color plates and 320 halftone images. --Jennifer Cohen

About the Author:

Joseph Cornell was born Nyack, New York in 1903. This American sculptor was one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage--an artform influenced by the Surrealists. Cornell was best-known for his shadow boxes--relatively small constructions, within glass-fronted shallow boxes or frames, made of a wide variety of found objects, maps, photographs, engravings, and other materials. The Cornell boxes possess a unique visual magic, and their selection and arrangement are extraordinarily evocative and filled with personal symbolism. He was also an avant-garde and experimental filmmaker who lived New York City for most of his life in a frame house on Utopia Parkway in Queens, New York, with his mother and his brother, Robert. Cornell died in 1972.