Medici Slot Machine Boxes

  

Medici Slot Machine Boxes

Joseph Cornell

  1. 'Medici Slot Machine' is one of the first boxes Cornell fashioned in his basement workshop. 'Medici Slot Machine' is a dream-machine exhibit, based on a young 'Renaissance' prince, Piero de Medici of Florence. It combines the prince's puzzling world with a contemporary vending machine.
  2. Simic structures his book in an interesting way. The book is divided into three sections: 'Medici Slot Machine,' 'The Little Box,' 'Imaginary Hotels.' The sections - which are, indeed, 'boxes' or 'hotels' - are then 'condensed' into smaller boxes.

Box of working materials for Medici Slot Machine, Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum To send a query about the collection, or to contact us for a research appointment at least two weeks prior to your preferred date, please contact us by mail, email, or phone.

Medici Slot Machine Boxes Heavy Duty

Cornell often made series of boxed assemblages that reflected his various interests. He collected items related to hotels in Europe which he had never visited, creating imagined memories for himself and the viewer.

Aside from the Hotel series, famous themes include the Soap Bubble Sets, the Medici Slot Machine series, the Pink Palace series, the Observatory series, and the Space Object Boxes, amongst 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, & set against harsh white backgrounds, and to which the present work refers.

Cornell often made series of boxed assemblages that reflected his various interests. He collected items related to hotels in Europe which he had never visited, creating imagined memories for himself and the viewer.

Aside from the Hotel series, famous themes include the Soap Bubble Sets, the Medici Slot Machine series, the Pink Palace series, the Observatory series, and the Space Object Boxes, amongst 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, & set against harsh white backgrounds, and to which the present work refers.

Artist
Joseph Cornell (1903-1972)
Title
Hotel Box
Medium
Wood and glass box construction with found objects, collaged upon a mixed media
Date
c. 1950
Inscriptions
Signed on the reverse
Size
11 3/8 x 8 9/16 x 4 ins.
Provenance
Estate of the Artist (James Corcoran Gallery, CA / Castelli Gallery, NY / Richard Feigen Gallery, NY); Private Collection, California
Reference
CC14-152
Status
Sold
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Available works by Joseph Cornell

Available Artists

Untitled (Cockatoo and Corks)
c. 1948; Construction, 14 3/8 x 13 1/2 x 5 5/8 in; Private collection

c. 1945; Construction, 15 1/8 x 15 3/4 x 4 3/4 in; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Winter 1953-54; Construction, 17 3/4 x 12 3/16 x 4 5/8 in; Collection Paul Simon

Medici Slot Machine Boxes As Seen On Tv

1950; Construction, 18 x 11 7/8 x 4 in; Private collection, New York

about 1949; Construction, 16 1/4 x 17 x 4 7/16 in; The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection, Chicago

Habitat Group for a Shooting Gallery

Medici Slot Machine Boxes Heavy Duty

1943; Construction, 15 1/2 x 11 1/8 x 4 1/4 in; Des Moines Art Center, Coffin Fine Arts
The Caliph of Bagdad

1949; Construction 17.25 x 14 x 3.25 in

Fortune Telling Parrot (Parrot Music Box)
about 1937–38; Construction, 16 1/16 x 8 3/4 x 6 11/16, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice

1957; Construction 17 5/8 x 12 1/4 x 4 7/16 in; Lindy and Edwin Bergman Joseph Cornell Collection, Chicago

Untitled (Parrot and Butterfly Habitat)
about 1948; Construction 19.63 x 13.63 x 6.5 in; Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan

Grand Hotel Fontaine (Bleu Parrot)
Medici slot machine boxes heavy duty


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.
Boxes
Cornell's most characteristic art works were boxed assemblages created from found objects. These are simple boxes, usually glass-fronted, in which he arranged surprising collections of photographs or Victorian bric-à-brac, in a way that combines the formal austerity of Constructivism with the lively fantasy of Surrealism. Many of his boxes, such as the famous Medici Slot Machine boxes, are interactive and are meant to be handled.
Cornell often made boxed assemblages in series 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, & set against harsh white backgrounds.