Cornell, Joseph (1903–72).
American sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of
assemblage. He had no formal training in art and his most characteristic
works are his highly distinctive ‘boxes.’ These are simple
boxes, usually glass-fronted, in which he arranged surprising collections
of photographs or Victorian bric-à-brac in a way that has been said
to combine the formal austerity of Constructivism with the lively fantasy
of Surrealism. Like Kurt Schwitters he could create poetry from the
commonplace. Unlike Schwitters, however, he was fascinated not by
refuse, garbage, and the discarded, but by fragments of once beautiful
and precious objects, relying on the Surrealist technique of irrational
juxtaposition and on the evocation of nostalgia for his appeal (he
befriended several members of the Surrealist movement who settled in the
USA during the Second World War). Cornell also painted and made
Surrealist films.