Joseph Cornell (1903-1972)

“Cornell was a master appropriator, using the images of artists he admired as his way of engaging them in a meaningful dialogue. He altered found objects in a desire to enhance their identity, whereas later artists have often preferred to use the unaltered object as a way of questioning its role in society. Issues of gender and politics held little or no interest for Cornell. Every ballet or concert that he attended every image by Vermeer, Gris, Duchamp, every ball, jack, and cockatoo had something unique to say to him. These images could be used over and over again, but each represented a different thought process and a different set of emotions. Each box relates to the others—they are complete in and of themselves, but indispensable to one another” (D. Waldman, Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams, New York, 2002, p. 139).