Joseph Cornell

(December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was
an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated
exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also
an avant-garde experimental filmmaker.
Cornell's most characteristic art works were boxed assemblages created
from found objects. These are simple shadow boxes, usually fronted with a
glass pane, in which he arranged eclectic fragments of photographs
or Victorian bric a brac, in a way that combines the formal austerity
of Constructivismwith the lively fantasy of Surrealism. Many of his boxes,
such as the famous Medici Slot Machineboxes, are interactive and are
meant to be handled.
Cornell often made series of boxed assemblages that reflected his various
interests: the Soap Bubble Sets, the Medici Slot Machine series, the Pink
Palace series, the Hotel series, the Observatory series, and the Space
Object Boxes, among others. Also captivated with birds, Cornell created
an Aviary series of boxes, in which colorful images of various birds were
mounted on wood, cut out, and set against harsh white backgrounds.[2]
In addition to creating boxes and flat collages and making short art films,
Cornell also kept a filing system of over 160 visual-documentary "dossiers"
on themes that interested him; the dossiers served as repositories from
which Cornell drew material and inspiration for boxes like his "penny
arcade" portrait of Lauren Bacall. He had no formal training in art,
although he was extremely well-read and was conversant with the New
York art scene from the 1940s through to the 1960s.