Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell

459 Pages·2004·7.07 MB·English

by  Deborah Solomon

PRAISE FOR UTOPIA PARKWAY
“Masterly … a meticulously researched and deeply considered
examination of how Cornell’s daily life contributed to his imaginative
life — the only real life he knew. Deborah Solomon brings to [Cornell’s]
life a lucid intelligence, an incisive knowledge of art history, and a rare
sensibility. Her generous understanding illuminates Cornell as a knight
errant of art.”
—ANNE TRUITT, WASHINGTON POST
“With literary flair and shrewd interpretation, Deborah
Solomon … supplies the drama that Cornell’s life outwardly lacked.”
—KENNETH BAKER, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW
“His life of quiet deliberation has found an exceptionally apt biographer
in Deborah Solomon, whose graceful prose well suits the master collagist
whose boxed congeries illuminated the kinetic poetry of ordinary
things.”
—ALBERT MOBILIO, VOICE LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
“Joseph Cornell’s art juxtaposed the most ordinary objects, and
transformed them into magical presences by placing them in boxes.
Deborah Solomon’s clear-eyed and sympathetic narrative does for his life
what he, as an artist, did for his penny world. Her book models itself
upon its subject and, without sensational revelation or arcane theory,
displays it as something rare. It is the book about Cornell I would not
dare to have hoped for in our mean and deconstructionist age.”
—ARTHUR C. DANTO, SLATE
“Fascinating reading … Skillfully weaving together fact, anecdote, and
conjecture, Solomon brings Cornell’s place in the art world and his
legacy to artists of the younger generation into sharp focus.”
—ALLISON KEMMERER, BOSTON BOOK REVIEW
“Joseph Cornell loved ballet and ballerinas; he was a friend and I
thought I knew him well. But only in Deborah Solomon’s poignant book
did I discover the complexity of his inner life and the extent of his
creative powers.”
—ALLEGRA KENT, FORMER PRINCIPAL DANCER, NEW YORK CITY BALLET
“As perfectly composed, richly nuanced, and quietly surprising as one of
Cornell’s boxes.”
—DONNA SEAMAN, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ALSO BY DEBORAH SOLOMON
American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell
Jackson Pollock: A Biography

Copyright © 1997 by Deborah Solomon
First published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, in 1997
Preface to the 2015 edition © 2015 by Deborah Solomon Photographs of works by Joseph
Cornell © the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation Photographs by Hans Namuth ©
Hans Namuth Photographs by Harry Roseman © Harry Roseman Cover: Joseph Cornell, Untitled
(Owl Box) [detail], c. 1948
Frontispiece: Joseph Cornell reading in his back yard (photograph by Harry Roseman)
Production editor: Yvonne E. Cárdenas All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written
permission from Other Press LLC, except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in
a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. For information write to Other Press LLC, 2 Park Avenue,
24th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Or visit our Web site: www.otherpress.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Solomon, Deborah, author.
Utopia Parkway : the life and work of Joseph Cornell / Deborah Solomon.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-59051-714-7 (paperback) — ISBN 978-1-59051715-4 (ebook) 1. Cornell, Joseph. 2.
Artists — United States — Biography.
I. Title.
N6537.C66S64 2015
709.2 — dc23
[B]
2015028854
v3.1
For Kent Sepkowitz
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
List of Illustrations
Preface to the 2015 Edition
Introduction
1 “Combination Ticket Entitles Bearer To …”: 1903–17
2 Dreaming of Houdini: 1917–21
3 Life of a Salesman: 1921–28
4 The Julien Levy Gallery: 1929–32
5 The Persistent Memory of Salvador Dalí: 1933–36
6 Introducing the Neo-Romantics: 1937–39
7 A Night at the Ballet: 1940–41
8 Voices from Abroad: 1942
9 Bébé Marie, or Visual Possession: 1943–44
10 The Hugo Gallery: 1945–49
11 The Aviaries: 1949
12 The Egan Years: 1950–53
13 The Birds: 1954–55
14 The Stable Gallery: 1956–57
15 Breakfast at Bickford’s: 1958–59
16 Pop Goes the Art World: 1960–63
17 The Life and Death of Joyce Hunter: 1964
18 Goodbye, Robert: 1965
19 Goodbye, Mrs. Cornell: 1966
20 The Guggenheim Show: 1967
21 “Bathrobe Journeying”: 1968–71
22 “Sunshine Breaking Through …”: 1972
Color Insert.
Notes