Joseph CornellVereinigte Staaten, 1903–1972

Untitled (Butterfly Habitat)

c. 1940 · Mixed Media

Kann ich es sehen?

Ja, derzeit ausgestellt

Wo ist „Untitled (Butterfly Habitat)“ heute? Art Institute of Chicago, Saal 397, Chicago. Ja, derzeit ausgestellt. Geprüft 29. September 2026.

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, Vereinigte Staaten

Saal397

Jetzt geöffnet· bis 17:00

Öffentlich ausgestellt.

Geprüft: vor 10 Tagen
Unverändert seit: 19. Aug. 2026
Quelle: Das Museum

Auf der Karte Museumsseite

Über das Werk

For approximately thirty years, Joseph Cornell worked in relative obscurity in the basement of his home in Queens, New York, creating a multitude of wondrous miniature worlds within his boxed constructions. Poetic mélanges of found objects and materials, his deeply personal and elusive work (which also includes many collages on paper) combines the enthusiasms of his childhood—butterflies, marbles, seashells, sky charts, stamps—with adult fascinations such as ballerinas, empty cages, and movie stars. Cornell’s boxes often prompt a dizzying series of associations; in Untitled (Butterfly Habitat), these include Christmas decorations, collector’s cabinets for specimens, microscopes, natural history displays, sailor’s boxes, and windows. Some of these references are contradictory, reinforcing the work’s ambiguity.

Ideas linked to flight, voyages, and the exotic are countered by the rigid and symmetrical organization of the display. The butterflies are not, however, pinned as they would be on a specimen board. Each pane of paint-spattered glass encloses a small compartment with white wood walls in which a cutout of a paper butterfly is suspended with string, allowing for some movement as the box is handled.

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0