Enchantments : : Joseph Cornell and American Modernism / / Marci Kwon.

The first major work to examine Joseph Cornell's relationship to American modernismJoseph Cornell (1903–1972) is best known for his exquisite and alluring box constructions, in which he transformed found objects—such as celestial charts, glass ice cubes, and feathers—into enchanted worlds that...

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Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE Arts 2021
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Place / Publishing House:Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2021]
©2021
Year of Publication:2021
Language:English
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Physical Description:1 online resource (272 p.) :; 121 color + 82 b/w illus.
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Other title:Frontmatter --
CONTENTS --
PREFACE The Great and the Small --
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --
Enchantments --
Parts of a World --
Universe to Cosmos --
Folk into Myth --
Enchantresses --
Rooms and Skies --
Some Varieties of Enchantment --
NOTES --
INDEX --
CREDITS
Summary:The first major work to examine Joseph Cornell's relationship to American modernismJoseph Cornell (1903–1972) is best known for his exquisite and alluring box constructions, in which he transformed found objects—such as celestial charts, glass ice cubes, and feathers—into enchanted worlds that blur the boundaries between fantasy and the commonplace. Situating Cornell within the broader artistic, cultural, and political debates of midcentury America, this innovative and interdisciplinary account reveals enchantment's relevance to the history of American modernism.In this beautifully illustrated book, Marci Kwon explores Cornell's attempts to convey enchantment—an ephemeral experience that exceeds rational explanation—in material form. Examining his box constructions, graphic design projects, and cinematic experiments, she shows how he turned to formal strategies drawn from movements like Transcendentalism and Romanticism to figure the immaterial. Kwon provides new perspectives on Cornell's artistic and graphic design career, bringing vividly to life a wide circle of acquaintances that included artists, poets, writers, and filmmakers such as Mina Loy, Lincoln Kirstein, Frank O’Hara, and Stan Brakhage. Cornell's participation in these varied milieus elucidate enchantment's centrality to midcentury conversations about art's potential for power and moral authority, and reveals how enchantment and modernity came to be understood as opposing forces. Leading contemporary artists such as Betye Saar and Carolee Schneemann turned to Cornell's enchantment as a resource for their own anti-racist, feminist projects.Spanning four decades of the artist's career, Enchantments sheds critical light on Cornell's engagement with many key episodes in American modernism, from Abstract Expressionism, 1930s "folk art," and the emergence of New York School poetry and experimental cinema to the transatlantic migration of Symbolism, Surrealism, and ballet.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780691215020
9783110753790
9783110754032
9783110754001
9783110753776
9783110739121
DOI:10.1515/9780691215020?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Marci Kwon.