1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 / 14

Joseph Cornell

Untitled

Maker

Joseph Cornell (American, 1903-1972)

Title

Untitled

Year

1949-1952

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

glass, wood, sand

Dimensions

31.1 x 21.6 x 11.7 cm (12 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed lower center of back:Joseph Cornell

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund

Object Number

82.107

Type

Sculpture

Publications

Journal

Manual / Issue 13: Storage

The RISD Museum’s thirteenth issue of Manual unpacks the idea and reality of storage-objects museums don’t put on view, works made as containers of various sorts, and more metaphorical considerations about how meanings and narratives are stored. This issue serves as a companion to the Raid the Icebox Now series of exhibitions on view at the RISD Museum through November 2020, in which nine contemporary artists and design collectives use the museum and its collections as a site for critical creative production and presentation. Raid the Icebox Now marks the 50th anniversary of Raid the Icebox 1 with Andy Warhol*, held in 1970 at the RISD Museum.

Exhibition History

Re-Viewing the Twentieth Century

Jul 21, 2006 – Apr 22, 2007

Better Still

Looking at Still Life in the Museum Collection

Feb 06, 2004 – May 02, 2004

The New York School

Aaron Siskind in Context

Nov 07, 2003 – Jan 25, 2004

Label copy

Cornell is admired for his box sculptures such as this in which he assembles found objects and images. These “assemblages” combine a formal abstract structure with the fantasy of surrealism, a strategy also used by Aaron Siskind. Cornell and Siskind met in the late 1940s. Siskind photographed Cornell’s work, as he did for many artists, among them de Kooning, Gottlieb, Newman, and Rothko, most often in exchange for art. A Siskind photograph of Cornell’s 1949 exhibition at the Egan Gallery, New York, is on view in the case. In 1974, coming upon some box-like altars at a cemetery in Mérida, Mexico, Siskind began a series of pictures entitled “Remembering Joseph Cornell in Mérida.”

Recent Gifts and Acquisitions

Nov 05, 1982 – Jan 02, 1983

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Joseph Cornell (American, 1903-1972)

Untitled, 1949-1952

Wood, glass and sand

31.1 x 21.6 x 11.7 cm (12 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches)

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund 82.107

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.