Tilly Losch

c. 1935
Construction, 10 x 9 1/4 x 2 1/8 in;
Collection Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bergman
Chicago
Untitled (Soap Bubble Set)
1936
Construction, 15 3/4 x 14 1/4 x 5 7/16 in
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Defense d’Afficher Object
1939; Construction, 8 15/16 x 13 15/16 x 2 1/8 in; Collection Denise and Andrew Saul
Object (Abeilles)
1940; Construction, 9 1/8 x 14 1/8 x 3 7/16 in; Collection Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Wiseman, Beverly Hills, CA
L’Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode,
cours élémentaire d’histoire naturelle
1940
Construction, 4 11/16 x 10 11/16 x 7 1/4 in
Collection Richard L. Feigen, New York
Untitled (Bebe Marie)
Early 1940’s
Construction, 23 3/8 x 12 5/16 x 5 1/4 in
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Untitled
1942
Construction, 13 1/8 x 10 x 3 1/2 in
Private collection, New York
Untitled (Grand Owl Habitat)
c. 1946
Construction, 24 x 13 1/8 x 4 13/16 in
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Kaplin,
Toledo, OH
Sorrows of Young Werther,
(1966)
Photomechanical reproduction, paper,
gouache and ink wash on fiberboard.
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.4 cm.)
Untitled (Pink Palace)
c. 1946-48 Construction, 10 x 16 7/16 x 3 3/4 in; Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Untitled (Paul and Virginia)
c. 1946-48 (150 Kb); Construction, 12 1/2 x 9 15/16 x 4 3/8 in; Collection Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bergman, Chicago
Untitled (Cockatoo and Corks)
c. 1948
Construction, 14 3/8 x 13 1/2 x 5 5/8 in
Private collection
Medici Princess, (CA. 1952)
Painted wood, photomechanical reproductions, painted &
colored glass, painted paper, string, cork, metal rings, plastic
balls, and a feather, in glass-faced, painted wood box
17 5/8 x 12 1/4 x 4 3/4 in. (44.5 x 31.1 x 12.1 cm.)

Museum Purchase, 1979 (79.275 )

From his home in Queens, New York, Joseph Cornell assembled

an intriguing array of objects in glass-fronted wooden boxes-
self?contained worlds filled with emblems of his fantasies,
musings, yearnings, delights, and regrets. From 1942 to 1954,
Cornell created the “Medici” series, featuring images of the
famed family that ruled Florence during the Renaissance.
Medici Princess centers on Agnolo Bronzino’s portrait of Bia, an
illegitimate daughter of the Grand Duke Cosimo I (whose image
appears on her necklace). Born around 1536, the little girl had
every material comfort, yet her father’s wealth and power could
not prevent her death at age five.

Using reproductions of Bronzino’s elegant portrait, Cornell

sealed the girl’s image behind blue glass in the Hirshhorn work,
making her appear ethereal and remote. The portrait is repeated
in ancillary compartments, juxtaposed with numbers and
circles. At the bottom, below excerpts from a map of Florence,
a drawer reveals a blue feather, five faux pearls, two bracelets,
and cut?up pages from an old book tied into two packets.

The box’s formal structure implies a narrative, yet the

mysterious components reveal no forthright message. Rather,
the work invites the viewer to imagine stories, travel into the
past, and play and dream like a child.

Text adapted from Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden:

150 Works of Art (1996), entry by Valerie J. Fletcher.
Untitled (Medici Boy)
1942-52
Construction, 13 15/16 x 11 3/16 x 3 7/8 in
Estate of Joseph Cornell
Untitled (Medici Princess)
c. 1948
Construction, 17 5/8 x 11 1/8 x 4 3/8 in
Private collection
Untitled (Medici Prince)
c. 1952
Construction, 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 5 in
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shapiro, Oak Park, IL
Toward the Blue Peninsula
1951-52
Construction, 10 5/8 x 14 15/16 x 3 15/16 in
Collection Daniel Varenne, Geneva
A Parrot for Juan Gris Winter
1953-54
Construction, 17 3/4 x 12 3/16 x 4 5/8 in
Collection Paul Simon
Untitled (Apollinaris)
c. 1954
Construction, 15 15/16 x 9 3/4 x 4 3/8 in
Collection Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bergman, Chicago
Untitled (Solar Set)
c. 1956-58; Construction, 11 1/2 x 16 1/4 x 3 5/8 in; Collection Donald Karshan, New York
Cassiopeia 1
c. 1960; Construction, 9 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 3 3/4 in; Estate of Joseph Cornell
Verso of Cassiopeia 1
Untitled (Pharmacy)
1943
Construction, 15 1/4 x 12 x 3 1/8 in
Collection Mrs. Marcel Duchamp, Paris
Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery
1943
Construction, 15 1/2 x 11 1/8 x 4 1/4 in
Des Moines Art Center, Coffin Fine Arts
Untitled (Penny Arcade Portrait
of Lauren Bacall)
1945-46
Construction, 20 1/2 x 16 x 3 1/2 in
Collection Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bergman, Chicago
Taglioni’s Jewel Casket.
1940.
Wood box covered with brown velvet
containing three rows of four glass cubes
resting in slots on blue glass, glass
necklace, jewelry fragments, and red,
blue, and clear glass chips,
4 3/4 x 11 7/8 x 8 1/4” (12 x 30.2 x 21 cm).
Gift of James Thrall Soby
Object (Roses des Vents)
1942-53
Construction, 2 5/8 x 21 1/4 x 10 3/8 in
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Object (Roses des vents).
1942-53.
Wood box with twenty-one compasses
set into a wood tray resting on plexiglass-
topped-and-partitioned section, divided
into seventeen compartments containing
small miscellaneous objects, and three-part
hinged lid lined with German maps of the
Coral Sea and the Great Australian Bight, 2
5/8 x 21 1/4 x 10 3/8” (6.7 x 53.7 x 26.2 cm).
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Murphy Fund
Object (Roses des vents).
1942-53.
Wood box with twenty-one compasses
set into a wood tray resting on plexiglass-
topped-and-partitioned section, divided
into seventeen compartments containing
small miscellaneous objects, and three-part
hinged lid lined with German maps of the
Coral Sea and the Great Australian Bight, 2
5/8 x 21 1/4 x 10 3/8” (6.7 x 53.7 x 26.2 cm).
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Murphy Fund
Fortune Telling Parrot (Parrot Music Box)
ca. 1937–38
Box construction, 40.8 x 22.2 x 17 cm
Peggy Guggenheim Collection. 76.2553 PG 126. ©
The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/
Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
Central Park Carrousel, in Memoriam.
1950.
Wood, mirror, wire netting, and paper
20 1/4 x 14 1/2 x 6 3/4” (51.4 x 36.8 x 17.1 cm).
Katharine Cornell Fund
Grand Hotel Semiramis
1950
Construction, 18 x 11 7/8 x 4 in
Private collection, New York
Untitled (Hotel du Cygne)
c. 1952-55
Construction, 19 3/16 x 12 3/4 x 4 1/2 in
Castelli Feigen Corcoran
Untitled (Grand Hôtel de l’Observatoire),
1954
Box construction and collage
18 5/16 x 12 15/16 x 3 7/8 inches
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Partial gift, C. and
B. Foundation, by exchange. 80.2734. © The Joseph
and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/Licensed by
VAGA, New York, NY.
Untitled (The Hotel Eden)
c. 1945
Construction, 15 1/8 x 15 3/4 x 4 3/4 in
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Setting for a Fairy Tale
1942
Box construction, 29.4 x 36.6 x 9.9 cm.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection. 76.2553 PG 125.
© The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial
Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
Space Object Box: “Little Bear, etc.” motif,
mid-1950s–early 1960s. Box construction and collage, 11 x 17 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. 68.1878. © The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/
Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.