Cygne Crépusculaire (Twilight Swan)
<p>This box is closely related to the earlier, untitled box known as <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/99784"><em>For Tamara Toumanova</em></a> and is specifically a tribute to the prima ballerina‘s performance in an outdoor product ion of <em>Swan Lake</em>, which Cornell attended. Its spare elegance, the contrast of the simple “rustic” frame with the picturesque intricacy of the wooded landscape, and the various light effect s created by the blue glass and the mirror seem to recreate the experience of open-air ballet. The swan itself fills the foreground and appears at home in its natural setting, but is simultaneously distanced from it by the blue moonlight, its identity with the ballerina indicated only by a brilliant, clear gemstone (a second one is now lost). Cornell has here restricted his incorporation of the delicate and decorative materials associated with the ballerina‘s presence, which elsewhere include feathers and sequins, to this artificial diamond, a conceit in keeping with the paradoxical nature of the event.</p> <p>— Entry, Dawn Ades, <em>Surrealist Art: The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago</em>, 1997, p.57.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1949
- Dimensions
- 14 1/2 × 15 × 3 in. Inner dimensions: 8 3/4 × 11 × 2 1/2 in.
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Joseph Cornell
Artist
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.
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More by Joseph Cornell
Untitled (Derby Hat) from Prints for Phoenix House
1972 · Photogravure from a portfolio of three lithographs, two photogravures, two screenprints with stencil and varnish additions, one aquatint, one etching and aquatint, and one screenprint
Untitled (How to Make a Rainbow) from Prints for Phoenix House
1972 · Screenprint with stencil and varnish additions from a portfolio of three lithographs, two photogravures, two screenprints with stencil and varnish additions, one aquatint, one etching and aquatint, and one screenprint
Untitled (Landscape with Figure) from Prints for Phoenix House
1972 · Photogravure from a portfolio of three lithographs, two photogravures, two screenprints with stencil and varnish additions, one aquatint, one etching and aquatint, and one screenprint
Untitled (Hotel du Nord) from Prints for Phoenix House
1972 · Screenprint with stencil and varnish additions from a portfolio of three lithographs, two photogravures, two screenprints with stencil and varnish additions, one aquatint, one etching and aquatint, and one screenprint
Untitled (Satie and Ravel)
1968 · Collage composed of cut and pasted, commercially printed papers, with graphite, on cardboard
Now, Voyager
1966 · Collage composed of cut and pasted, commercially printed papers, with brush and black ink and touches of yellow gouache on untempered masonite
Record
Verified by Watts Index- Artist
- Joseph Cornell
- Year
- 1949
- Dimensions
- 14 1/2 × 15 × 3 in. Inner dimensions: 8 3/4 × 11 × 2 1/2 in.
- Watts ID
- WW-1949-031364
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified