The American artist Joseph Cornell (1903-72) subjected his own work and working processes to intense scrutiny, forming important ideas about the role of the artist and the creation of art. He developed a subtle and precise language: symbol, metaphoric and metonymic association, the development of the series, the multiple viewpoint, juxtaposition and cultural hegemony are all variously characteristic of his "new language". His "new order of things" set up a fresh aesthetic platform for art, so that the artist became not only ...
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The American artist Joseph Cornell (1903-72) subjected his own work and working processes to intense scrutiny, forming important ideas about the role of the artist and the creation of art. He developed a subtle and precise language: symbol, metaphoric and metonymic association, the development of the series, the multiple viewpoint, juxtaposition and cultural hegemony are all variously characteristic of his "new language". His "new order of things" set up a fresh aesthetic platform for art, so that the artist became not only visionary, but also a note-taker, collator, joiner, editor, archivist and curator. Drawing on a vast range of primary material - source-files, correspondence and more than 50 interviews with Cornell's family and friends - Lindsay Blair examines Cornell's boxes, collages and scrapbooks, confessional diaries and experiments with film montage, revealing that Cornell's ultimate subject was the mind itself.
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