Opening the exhibiton: Palace

Curator Sarah Lea introduces the first work in the exhibition and explains why she chose it.

Image credit: Joseph Cornell, ‘Palace’, 1943. Box construction. 26.7 x 50.5 x 13 cm. The Menil Collection, Houston. Formerly in the collection of Christophe de Menil.

© The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2015.

Cornell and the art world: three works in focus

Curator Jasper Sharp introduces three works that demonstrate Cornell’s close ties with – and influence on – the artistic community, from the 1930s to the present day.

Image credits:

‘Pharmacy’, 1943. Box construction, 38.7 x 30.5 x 7.9 cm. Collection Paul Schärer.

‘Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery’, 1943. Box construction. 39.4 x 28.3 x 10.8 cm. Purchased with funds from the Coffin Fine Arts Trust; Nathan Emory Coffin Collection of the Des Moines Art Center, 1975.27.

‘Untitled (Owl Habitat)’, Mid-to late 1940s. Box construction, 25.7 x 14 x 9.4cm. Collection Jasper Johns.

All images © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2015.

The Medici series

The exhibition brings together a number of works from Cornell’s Medici series. Curator Sarah Lea introduces these beguiling shadow boxes, which combine Renaissance portraiture with the cabinetry of the Coney Island slot machines of Cornell’s youth.

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Image credits:

‘Untitled (Medici Princess)’ c.1948. Box construction, 44.8 x 28.3 x 11.1 cm Private collection, New York.

‘Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy)’, 1942-52. Box construction, 35.4 x 28.4 x 9.8 cm. Glenstone.

‘Untitled (Medici Boy)’, c.1953. Box construction, 46.4 x 28.9 x 13.9 cm. Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Museum purchase, The Benjamin J. Tillar Memorial Trust.

All images © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2015.

Letter to Dorothea Tanning

Cornell was an avid correspondent. Here, Jasper Sharp introduces one of his beautifully embellished letters to the artist Dorothea Tanning.

Image credit: Letter with collage embellishments, from Cornell to Dorothea Tanning, 1947. Typewritten letter with collage on paper, 39.1 x 22.8cm. The Estate of Dorothea Tanning, New York.

© The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA, NY/DACS, London 2015.