Untitled (Butterfly Habitat)

Joseph CornellWW-1935-014989

1935·Box construction with painted glass·30.5 × 23.2 × 8 cm (12 × 9 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.)

<p>For approximately thirty years, Joseph Cornell worked in relative obscurity in the basement of his home in Queens, New York, creating a multitude of wondrous miniature worlds within his boxed constructions. Poetic mélanges of found objects and materials, his deeply personal and elusive work (which also includes many collages on paper) combines the enthusiasms of his childhood—butterflies, marbles, seashells, sky charts, stamps—with adult fascinations such as ballerinas, empty cages, and movie stars. Cornell’s boxes often prompt a dizzying series of associations; in <em>Untitled (Butterfly Habitat)</em>, these include Christmas decorations, collector’s cabinets for specimens, microscopes, natural history displays, sailor’s boxes, and windows. Some of these references are contradictory, reinforcing the work’s ambiguity. Ideas linked to flight, voyages, and the exotic are countered by the rigid and symmetrical organization of the display. The butterflies are not, however, pinned as they would be on a specimen board. Each pane of paint-spattered glass encloses a small compartment with white wood walls in which a cutout of a paper butterfly is suspended with string, allowing for some movement as the box is handled.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1935
Medium: Box construction with painted glass
Dimensions: 30.5 × 23.2 × 8 cm (12 × 9 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Joseph Cornell

Artist

Joseph Cornell

Printmaking

A leading 20th century American artist and a pioneer of assemblage art, Joseph Cornell has become most well known for his “shadow boxes,” a series of works made from found objects and raw materials that are constructed in such a way as to illustrate narrative surreal, even fantastical scenes. His many variable interests, which ranged from Surrealism to opera to Romantic literature, deeply influenced his work, leading to allegorical and personal memory themed objects. Surrealism specifically was significant to his artistic style, with the method of juxtaposing objects and subjects in surprising combinations featuring heavily across his oeuvre.

Nyack, NY, USA

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