Birds of a Feather

An insightful study of Joseph Cornell's fascination with the Cubist painter Juan Gris, shedding new light on the work of both artists.

Joseph Cornell first viewed Cubist painter Juan Gris's "The Man at the Cafe" in October 1953. This visual encounter prompted Cornell to create more than a dozen hand-constructed shadow boxes as homages to Gris, each featuring a variation on a motif that echoes formal elements in Gris's painting. This unique book explores Cornell's deep fascination with Gris, uncovering compositional similarities that indicate numerous cross-currents, including allusions in Cornell's work to Gris's crucial influence and the artists' shared interests in French culture and the ballet. "Cornell / Gris" yields a new perspective on Cornell's famed boxes while also shedding light on Gris's painting, establishing points of connection between two key figures of the avant-garde who lived a generation apart.