Customer Reviews

Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams

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Finally, a beautiful, comprehensive book about Joseph Cornell and his work. Diane Waldman knew Cornell intimately ever since she was an art student (and through doing gallery shows for him), and this affinity shows; this is ultimately a book of love and tribute to a friend.

The biographical material is excellent. Most fascinating segments deal with Cornell's stranger sides, such as when at his brother Robert's funeral, Joseph put a sheet over his head and laughed, creeping everyone out, and explained it was only a side joke that Robert would have understood. Cornell was terribly timid in front of women (particularly the ones he fancied) and had a complete dependence on his mother (he died months after she did). Waldman probes these and other significant personal issues (such as his association with Surrealism, and how the younger artists that have passed through him have influenced his work) and examines how they factored in Cornell's art. The book is generous with illustrations - Waldman supports her points with not only Cornell's work, but with other artists that were influential to him.

However, it is the lonely and telling poetry of Cornell's work that is the heart of this book. The boxes that Waldman chooses to include are presented intelligently, and beautifully. The innocence and nostalgia of each box is lovingly portrayed. The Medici series - Cornell's especially heartbreakingly beautiful and mysteriously passionate work - is presented perfectly by Waldman with thoughtful commentary and context, capturing in full its yearning and ardor. Waldman has given us a book that speaks eloquently about why Cornell is an artists people will remember for generations hereafter.

Fortunate is the arts library to have the restored and embellished 1977 monograph on the life and work of American artist Joseph Cornell, an artist whose importance not only to the craft of assemblage but to the history of American art continues to grow as the years pass. Author Diane Waldman initially based her monograph on extensive interviews with Cornell and his confreres in preparing the 1967 retrospective of Cornell's art for the Guggenheim Museum. And fine though that now extinct monograph was, it was important to update it with the added information gleaned from the 1978 gift of the bulk of Cornell's archives donated by the heirs of Cornell to the Smithsonian Museum, forming the Joseph Cornell Study Center in Washington, DC.

But enough of background. Waldman the writer and historian presents here one of the more sensitive tributes to Joseph Cornell in print. Included in this rather brief book are over forty color plates of many of Cornell's greatest works. The color reproductions and photography of these basically three-dimensional works is outstanding and allows the viewer to pause with each work, enhance the visual appreciation with the accompanying writing by the author, and then return once again to the biographical data of a man at odds with conformity and with somewhat fractured social graces.

Joseph Cornell was a unique artist and one whose impact on all forms of art (especially the eventual 'installation art' phase) is yearly more appreciated. This fine book is as sound a source of information on his life and works as any of the now many volumes on the shelves. Highly Recommended to both the novice and the expert. Grady Harp, February 06

Joseph Cornell's work is beautiful. It's a pity that he is such a poorly-known artist but as the author suggests perhaps he was born a few decades too late or his art was a few decades too early. He has certainly missed out on his rightful place in most books on Surrealist art. This book is very-well presented - a photograph or two of Cornell's work on almost every page and text not only explaining the inspiration and the work process behind the assemblages but also conveying the quirky nature of the artist. If Joseph Cornell showed little humour as a person then there is plenty of it to be found in his work (e.g., lobster ballet box). This art book is so well-written and interesting that it can be read from cover to cover in one day. There is something new to be found in the photographs every time.

I have read just about every book of merit on Joseph Cornell, the artist considered to be the father of modern assemblage. This book outshines all others in its brilliant spectrum of biography, photography and insight into the artist and his work. The full-color images are crisp and stunning and allow the reader to really study the details of Cornell's construction and craftsmanship. The text is informative and scholarly while remaining interesting and entertaining. If you want to purchase one book for your bookshelf to represent the life and work of Cornell, this is the one.

This is a large format, paperback book with lots of photos of work, many of which I hadn't seen before. The text is interesting but full of psychological insights and artistic inferences which do not come from Cornell but from the author. I found it worthwhile as a reference work for the photos and dates of works. A much more fascinating biography of Cornell is by Deborah Solomon of Sunday NY Times Magazine interview fame. Published in 1999, I believe, "Utopia Parkway." A really good read, especially about Cornell's later life where he became famous and met a lot of rising female art stars such as Yayoi Kusama and Carolanne Schneeman (sp?) and even had sexual escapades! Not the isolated hermit we thought he was!

I wasn't aware that this wasn't a normal size book. It was larger than expected that made it a little more difficult to read. But good book, nonetheless.

This book is large format with many full color photos of the work. It presents a history of Cornell and his work with a good amount of personal detail. If you like Joseph Cornell's work and want to learn more, this is an excellent book for the shelf or the coffee table.

I really didn't know what to expect from this book when I ordered it. I wanted to see more photographs of Cornell's amazing work. Well I got lots of those in this book, but better still, a full text of in-depth explanations of his work which expanded my understanding of this artist and how he did what he did.