Untitled (Blue Sand Box)

early 1950s · Mixed Media

May one see it?

Yes, receiving visitors

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Room397

On public display.

Checked: 2 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum's own collection data

On the map Museum page

About the work

This box is, like others of its type, designed to be handled; the sand, the metal ring, and the ball scattering into different formations like iron filings or a kaleidoscope. The inside of the box is painted white on all sides; a fine network of cracks suggests that it was artificially aged. As noted in the above media description, sixteen faint lines are etched into the bottom (or rear wall) of the box, radiating from a common center, and resulting in raised lines of white paint on either side of the incisions. An oval form was etched, using the same technique, in the upper right corner. The blue sand forms patterns when shaken that are determined by the raised lines. The three different mobile elements—ring, ball, and sand—make very different sounds as the box is shaken.

Read on

Cornell mentioned “sand boxes” as early as 1945 in his diary jottings. Significantly, in an entry of October 8, 1945, he referred to two different kinds of objects that are possible sources for these boxes: the “sailor’s box” and the “sand box as discovered in shop—birdhouse that might have [been] tended by her hands” (Cornell 1993, pp. 125–26). It is not entirely evident what he meant by the latter, but the link with the “birdhouse” suggests the sand tray that is customarily placed on the bottom of a bird‘s cage. The sailor’s box was an object of deep resonance for Cornell, with its references to voyages, exotic birds and butterflies, navigation, and treasured keepsakes in general. In a diary note of April 4, 1943, Cornell described an “Exhibition of miscellaneous objects found in trunks of sailors... shells, toy snake, wales [sic] tooth, beads (exotic), a butterfly box” (Cornell Papers, AAA, reel 1058; originally cited in New York 1980–82, pp. 33–34). The Sand Boxes are perhaps like some such treasure salvaged from the bottom of the sea.

— Entry, Dawn Ades, Surrealist Art: The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997, p. 78-79.

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