Assemblages
Joseph Cornell
1903-1972
Vocabulary
Collage: Layering and overlapping images or objects to create a compositional space.
Assemblage: A sculptural composition consisting of an arrangement of miscellaneous objects or
found materials.
Installation: An artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed
to transform the perception of a space.
Constructivism: A movement that was in favor of art as a practice for social purposes.
Surrealism: The practice of producing fantastic imagery in art by combining unlike things and
creating dream-like spaces.
Important Facts
-Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor.
-He was a pioneer in the art of assemblage. He excelled at turning the ordinary into the sacred.
-In real life, Joseph Cornell was a recluse who used his art to escape his family, his sterile
suburban life, and his own psychological demons. Bringing precise order to his art was a way of
triumphing over the chaos of his private life.
-He was extremely influenced by Surrealist artists like Salvador Dali. He was also an avant-garde
experimental filmmaker.
-Cornell was born in Nyack, NY. Both of his parents came from socially prominent families. His
father died when Cornell was only 14. His mother and 2 sisters and brother moved to Queens, NY.
-He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, but did not graduate.
-He lived for most of his life in a small wooden-frame house on Utopia Parkway in a working-class
area of Flushing, NY along with his mother and his brother Robert.
-His brother Robert have severe cerebral palsy. Cornell devoted his life to taking care of his
brother.
-Joseph was extremely shy and, therefore, became a self-taught artist. Though he has no formal
training in art, he was extremely well-read, but didn’t participate in the New York art scene because
of his wariness of strangers.
-Cornell’s most famous artworks are his boxed assemblages created from found objects. He would
arrange photographs or Victorian bric-a-brac in a way that combined the formal austerity of
Constructivism with the lively fantasy of Surrealism.
-Many of his boxes such as Medici Slot Machine boxes are interactive and meant to be handled.
-Cornell’s boxes often reflected his various interests such as the Hotel series, Observatory series,
and the Space Object Boxes. Cornell particularly loved birds and created a series of Aviary boxes.
-Cornell also kept a filing system of over 160 visual documentary “dossiers” (fancy word meaning:
filing system) on themes that interested him. The dossiers served as repositories from which
Cornell drew material and inspiration for his assemblages.
-Cornell became a highly regarded artist at the end of his career. He preferred to remain out of the
spotlight.
-Towards the end of his career, he became more and more interested in film. He collaborated with
filmmakers to make films that were evocative of moving collages.
-His last exhibition was a show he arranged especially for children. His boxes were displayed at
child height and the opening party served brownies and cherry coke. Yay!
Our Project
We will be creating our own Cornell inspired Assemblages.
1) Brainstorm!
2) Bring in some objects (2D and 3D) you might like to include in your assemblage. Consider
objects that reflect your particular interests.
3) Begin playing around with different compositional arrangements.
4) Start filling, painting, and drawing to create your entire assemblage.