L’Humeur Vagabonde (Restless Mood)

1955

Joseph Cornell

Associated Names
Joseph Cornell

Artist, American, 1903 - 1972

This sculpture appears to be a shadow box containing various small objects. The box has a grid-like structure dividing it into sixteen compartments, each housing a unique object. The items include a perforated terracotta piece, a white shell, a rounded textured item similar to a walnut, a ribbed spiral similar to a screw, a dark blue geometric star shape, several pieces of paper bound with string, a broken glass jar or bottle, a candle, a colorful ball, and a glass bottle filled with colorful rocks. The walls between the different compartments are white, and the border of the box is wood.
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York); purchased 21 May 1993 by Robert Lehrman, Washington, DC; gift 2023 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2006

  • Andromeda Hotel: The Art of Joseph Cornell, Katonah Museum of Art, New York, 2006, unnumbered checklist, repro.

Bibliography

2003

  • Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe, Richard Vine, and Robert Lehrman. Joseph Cornell: Shadowplay, Eterniday. Washington, 2003: 146, no.47, 147, repro, 249, 254.

2007

  • Mair, Kimberly. "Objects of my Affection: Joseph Cornell and the Corporeal Aesthetics of Assemblage." Third Text 21 (2007): 708, repro.

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