
The US-American artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), who lived a reclusive life in New York State, is known for his sculptural assemblages and experimental films, which secured him a place in the canon of 20th century art. As self-taught artist, Cornell created collages using photographs and found objects – ephemeral and everyday objects that he gathered together, classified and arranged according to his own personal criteria, which were then transformed into box assemblages. Cornell classified the objects he collected with the help of dossiers he kept on a broad variety of subjects, which served as inspiration for his work. Cornell was also inspired by contemporary artists including Max Ernst and Rene Magritte: as a result, his work has been associated with the Surrealist movement, though the artist avoided categorising his own style.
Cornell’s artistic career took off following his solo show at the Charles Eagan Gallery in 1949. His work was met with enthusiasm, and his box assemblages came to define his oeuvre. His work is represented in numerous private and public collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Joseph Cornell died in 1972 in New York.
Publications
Exhibitions
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, USA
Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, USA
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York, USA
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California, USA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA
L&M Arts, New York, USA
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Fundación Juan March, Madrid, Spain
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
ACA Galleries, New York, USA
Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA
Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA