General Correspondence
Object Details
- Collection Artist
- Cornell, Joseph
- See more items in
- Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection
- Joseph Cornell Study Center Collection / Series 2: Correspondence
- Sponsor
- Funding for the processing of this collection was generously provided by the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.
- Extent
- 2.7 Linear feet (Boxes 1-4, 86)
- Date
- 1934-1973
- Archival Repository
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Research and Scholars Center
- Identifier
- SAAM.JCSC.1, Subseries 2.1
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Joseph Cornell Study Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum.
- Arrangement
- Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, and chronologically thereafter.
- Collection Rights
- Unpublished materials are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
- Scope and Contents
- General correspondence is on a range of personal and professional topics and includes scattered photographs, Rorschach drawings and illustrated letters, diary notes and draft letters by Cornell, collected or sent artifacts and ephemera. Letters include assorted fan letters from children and collectors; inquiries about Cornell's work process and whether works are available for sale; references to purchased, owned, or gifted artworks by and from Cornell; personal exchanges between friends and those Cornell admired; and references to "Dance Index" and "View" magazine issues, for which he contributed articles and designs. Letters offer insights into Cornell's thoughts and processes, as found in a letter from Lucy Lippard (who wrote a book on Surrealists) referencing Cornell's preference to be noted as a "white magician" rather than a surrealist. A New York window designer, William Bayard Okie, Jr., writes to Cornell in 1946 and shares how he makes color-dyed sand, and Kurt Seligmann makes reference to the purchasing of blue velvet. Other letters highlight Cornell's interests in film and other artists, as seen in letters from Harry Torczyner, lawyer, art collector, author, and friend of René Magritte, who sent Cornell a requested photograph of Georgette Magritte along with a letter from her. Letters from Dorothy Coulter refer to "another drawing" purchased by Cornell, and Yayoi Kusama notes "You and Me, Birds of a Feather," in a letter with dyed feathers taped and sent to Cornell. Filmmaker and assistant to Cornell, Larry Jordan, includes three small hand-printed booklets on films: "The Aviary" by Joseph Cornell, "Orpheus" by Jean Cocteau, and "Ivan the Terrible" by S. M. Eisenstein. Cornell's contributions to avant-garde magazine, "View," are often praised, as found in correspondence with Charles Henri Ford and Pavel Tchelitchew, who sent along an illustrated letter from artist Toni del Renzio admiring Cornell's cover design for the "Americana Fantastica" issue. Marianne Moore began her correspondence with Cornell by first sending a letter of appreciation, for his collage "The Crystal Cage (Portrait of Berenice)" from the "Americana Fantastica" issue of "View," to Charles Henri Ford, who sent it along to Cornell. Other correspondents of note include author and artist Eve Babitz; author and critic Dore Ashton; filmmakers Stan Brakhage, Rudy Burkhardt, and Larry Jordan; Pulitzer prize winning poet Marianne Moore; Nobel prize winning author Octavio Paz; artists Xenia Cage, Yayoi Kusama, Roberto Matta, Hans Namuth, Sonia Sekula, and Dorothea Tanning; actresses Suzanne Miller and Betsy von Furstenburg (also referred to as "Laurel" in the letters); author Charles Henri Ford and artist Pavel Tchelitchew; ballet dancers Allegra Kent and Tanaquil Le Clercq; and filmmaker and poet, Parker Tyler. Joseph Cornell also corresponded with the many "helpers," or assistants, he employed in his later years, including Alexandra Cortesi (Anderson), Marianne Barcellona, Helen Horn (Simeone), Howard Hussey, Kasoundra Kasoundra, George Kott, Suzanne Miller, Harry Roseman, Arlene Rothlein, Terry Schutte, Barbara Somers, and Vivienne Young, among others.
- Collection Restrictions
- Access to the collection requires an advanced appointment. Contact collection staff at least two weeks prior to preferred date, at AmericanArtCornellStudy@si.edu. Series 9: Artifacts and Ephemera, Series 13: Personal Library and Book Collection, and Series 14: Record Album Collection, are still undergoing processing and preservation and may not be available for research use. Record albums are unavailable for playback. Contact collection staff for full lists of publications and record albums.
- Record ID
- ebl-1589483019231-1589483019511-0
- Metadata Usage
- CC0
