Sculpture of Medardo Rosso: Metamorphosis

Maker Joseph Cornell (American, 1903 - 1972)

ClassificationsCOLLAGES

Daten.d.

Mediumon the rough side of a fiberboard panel: magazine photo of wax bust by Medardo Rosso, stained black-brown overall; verso covered with manilla paper with large gray stain

Dimensions12 1/16 x 9 in. (30.6 x 22.9 cm.)

SignedSigned in lower center of verso in black ink: Joseph Cornell

InscribedSigned in lower center of verso in black ink: Joseph Cornell Inscribed in upper center of verso in black ink: Sculpture of Medardo Rosso Inscribed in lower center of verso in black ink: Metamorphosis-- / by / Joseph Cornell

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation

Status

Not on view

Label TextCornell linked himself to the history of art by including images of other artists' work in his own. Here, he featured a photograph of a sculpture by 19th-century Italian artist Medardo Rosso. Rosso blurred distinctions between painting and sculpture by creating three-dimensional objects with shallow, unified surfaces meant to be seen from a single angle. Like Rosso's, Cornell's work defies placement into traditional art historical categories. The idea of metamorphosis-conveyed in Rosso's sculpture by the human form materializing from wax-would have appealed to Cornell, who transformed everyday, often discarded objects into high art.

Object number2005.19.4

Terms