Now, Voyager
<p>The title of this collage originally derives from a two-line poem by Walt Whitman: “The untold want by life and land ne’er granted,/ Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find” (“The Untold Want” [I87l), in Walt Whitman, <em>Complete Poetry and Collected Prose</em>, New York, 1982, p. 608). <em>Now Voyager</em> was also the name of a 1941 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty and of a 1942 movie, based on the novel, starring Bette Davis. The title’s attraction for Cornell, given the voyage theme in so many of his works, is obvious. Here, though, the combination of title and image suggests a journey of a more interior kind, which is indeed evoked by Whitman‘s poem, and is a theme developed in both the novel and movie: these focus on the growth of the main protagonist, Charlotte Vale, from repressive childhood into mature adulthood. In Cornell‘s collage a child of uncertain gender is shown riding a merry-go-round horse, but the child’s distant gaze and the planets above hint at an imagined voyage of much grander dimensions.</p> <p>— Entry, Dawn Ades, <em>Surrealist Art: The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago</em>, 1997, p. 91.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1966
- Dimensions
- 28.9 × 21.3 cm (11 7/16 × 8 7/16 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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (Satie and Ravel)
1968 · Collage composed of cut and pasted, commercially printed papers, with graphite, on cardboard
Untitled (L'Abeille)
1966 · Commercially printed papers and gold appliques on untempered masonite, with coin and blue ink on glass, framed
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Joseph Cornell
- Year
- 1966
- Dimensions
- 28.9 × 21.3 cm (11 7/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1966-031362
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified