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Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell
No artist ever led a stranger life than Joseph Cornell, the self-taught American genius prized for his disquieting shadow boxes, who stands at the intersection of Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop art. Legends about Cornell abound--as the shy hermit, the devoted family caretaker, the artistic innocent--but never before Utopia Parkway has he been presented for what he a brilliant, relentlessly serious artist whose stature has now reached monumental proportions. Cornell was haunted by dreams and visions, yet the site of his imaginings couldn't have been more a small house he shared with his mother and invalid brother in Queens, New York. In its cluttered basement, he spent his nights arranging photographs, cut-outs and other humble disjecta into some of the most romantic works to exist in three dimensions. Cornell was no recluse, admired by successive generations of vanguard artists, he formed friendships with figures as diverse as Duchamp, de Kooning, and Warhol and had romantically charged encounters with Susan Sontag and Yoko Ono--not to mention unrequited crushes on countless shop girls and waitresses. All this he recorded compulsively in a diary that, along with his shadow boxes, forms one of the oddest and most affecting records ever made of a life. It is from such documents, and from a decade of sustained attention to Cornell, that Deborah Solomon has fashioned the definitive biography of one of America's most powerful and unusual modern artists.
426 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2015
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About the author
Deborah Solomon
19 books21 followersDeborah Solomon (born August 9, 1957, New York City) is an American art critic, journalist and biographer. She writes primarily for The New York Times and her weekly column, "Questions For," ran in The New York Times Magazine from 2003 to 2011. Her art reviews appear on WNYC Radio.
Solomon was born in New York City and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. Her parents, Jerry and Sally Solomon, owned an art gallery. She was educated at Cornell University, where she majored in art history and served as the associate editor of The Cornell Daily Sun. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1979. The following year, she received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Solomon began her career writing about art for various publications, including The New Criterion. For most of the 1990s, she served as the chief art critic of The Wall Street Journal. She has written extensively about American painting, and is the author of several biographies of American artists, including Jackson Pollock and Joseph Cornell. Solomon was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001 in the category of biography.
Solomon was born in New York City and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. Her parents, Jerry and Sally Solomon, owned an art gallery. She was educated at Cornell University, where she majored in art history and served as the associate editor of The Cornell Daily Sun. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1979. The following year, she received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Solomon began her career writing about art for various publications, including The New Criterion. For most of the 1990s, she served as the chief art critic of The Wall Street Journal. She has written extensively about American painting, and is the author of several biographies of American artists, including Jackson Pollock and Joseph Cornell. Solomon was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001 in the category of biography.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
May 19, 2016
Biography is something I very rarely take up in my reading (I much prefer memoirs, or personal diaries and journals whenever possible), and it's even more rare for me to actually read a biography all the way through, usually opting instead to read chapters or sections specific to my interests.
I had fully expected this to be more or less my experience with Utopia Parkway, currently the only biography available on the life of nonconformist artist Joseph Cornell, whose work I have become increasingly enchanted by over the last few months and have been studying in greater and greater detail. But I quickly became so engrossed in the specifics of Cornell's life that I ended up reading the whole thing, and it's probably the closest I've experienced to a "page turner" in a good while—I could hardly put it down.
Deborah Solomon definitely had her work cut out for her by taking on this subject. In the various accounts and analyses of Cornell's work and life I've read so far most seem to struggle with accounting for the complexity of Cornell's utter unconventionality—in some he comes off as a whimsical, almost child-like recluse under the domineering thumb of his "dear Mama," in some he comes off like a marginalized hermit willfully on the fringes of art and society, and yet other descriptions portray him as a creepy voyeur-type whose largely repressed sexual urges drive his work, which attempts to dominate the various female figures he held as his muses. As Solomon proves, Cornell was indeed all of these things, but also many more—all of these characterizations are like individual facets that change shape and color and even disappear with just the slightest change of perspective. Cornell emerges as an endless and endlessly baffling bundle of contradictions, and she does a remarkable job of accounting for many of them, which is often done by her adamance to contextualize both Cornell's life and the art that it inspired within larger social and artistic movements.
One review currently on this site found this book "kind of a downer, about a sad and very limited life," a description that rather took me aback, because as we find out through Utopia Parkway, Cornell's life can be described as such in only the most limited of ways—what is remarkable is how rich of a life he seemed capable of creating for himself, largely within the carefully controlled confines of his own home. But frankly, he managed to know just about everyone (from Duchamp to Breton to Toumanova to Sontag to Yoko Ono and just about anybody who's anybody in between). Which is ultimately what proves to be so inspiring: so many life stories of famous people and artists in particular seem to involve extensive travels, glittering parties, intense heartbreaks and ecstasies in equal alternating measure, all of the glamorous, easily romanticized trappings of what many of us like to consider "REAL living." Cornell points to possible alternatives, and how richness of the mind, creativity and great accomplishment can take other forms as well.
This probably isn't the ideal place to start one's explorations of Cornell's work (it's much more enriching when one at least has some idea of some of the work Solomon constantly alludes to), but an essential supplement for anybody who's already a fan.
I had fully expected this to be more or less my experience with Utopia Parkway, currently the only biography available on the life of nonconformist artist Joseph Cornell, whose work I have become increasingly enchanted by over the last few months and have been studying in greater and greater detail. But I quickly became so engrossed in the specifics of Cornell's life that I ended up reading the whole thing, and it's probably the closest I've experienced to a "page turner" in a good while—I could hardly put it down.
Deborah Solomon definitely had her work cut out for her by taking on this subject. In the various accounts and analyses of Cornell's work and life I've read so far most seem to struggle with accounting for the complexity of Cornell's utter unconventionality—in some he comes off as a whimsical, almost child-like recluse under the domineering thumb of his "dear Mama," in some he comes off like a marginalized hermit willfully on the fringes of art and society, and yet other descriptions portray him as a creepy voyeur-type whose largely repressed sexual urges drive his work, which attempts to dominate the various female figures he held as his muses. As Solomon proves, Cornell was indeed all of these things, but also many more—all of these characterizations are like individual facets that change shape and color and even disappear with just the slightest change of perspective. Cornell emerges as an endless and endlessly baffling bundle of contradictions, and she does a remarkable job of accounting for many of them, which is often done by her adamance to contextualize both Cornell's life and the art that it inspired within larger social and artistic movements.
One review currently on this site found this book "kind of a downer, about a sad and very limited life," a description that rather took me aback, because as we find out through Utopia Parkway, Cornell's life can be described as such in only the most limited of ways—what is remarkable is how rich of a life he seemed capable of creating for himself, largely within the carefully controlled confines of his own home. But frankly, he managed to know just about everyone (from Duchamp to Breton to Toumanova to Sontag to Yoko Ono and just about anybody who's anybody in between). Which is ultimately what proves to be so inspiring: so many life stories of famous people and artists in particular seem to involve extensive travels, glittering parties, intense heartbreaks and ecstasies in equal alternating measure, all of the glamorous, easily romanticized trappings of what many of us like to consider "REAL living." Cornell points to possible alternatives, and how richness of the mind, creativity and great accomplishment can take other forms as well.
This probably isn't the ideal place to start one's explorations of Cornell's work (it's much more enriching when one at least has some idea of some of the work Solomon constantly alludes to), but an essential supplement for anybody who's already a fan.
October 23, 2018
I've always loved Cornell's work. I knew that he never moved away from home and was very reclusive, but Solomon really put him through the psychological wringer. Her insights seem very probable and the resulting book gave me a clear picture of his intentions and process. At some points I felt like I was standing right next to him in his basement (or kitchen table) as he chose and prepared the items for his boxes.
I felt deeply sorry for Cornell because his social awkwardness prevented him from having a richer exterior life. He hated to part with his works and tried to avoid being an object of interest, although he counted many famous people as admirers.
I was sorry he was so in thrall to his mother. And, while he dearly loved his brother, Robert, it was impossible for him to feel he could leave the two of them alone. Consequently, Cornell's life was one of dreams and longing. Perhaps his art couldn't have been as compelling if his life had been any different.
I can't imagine reading a more thorough biography about an artist's life and work. It actually made me appreciate Cornell's work more.
(This book would be best read along with "Joseph Cornell, Master of Dreams" by Diane Waldman or "Joseph Cornell" edited by Kynaston McShine for their excellent reproductions of his work.)
I felt deeply sorry for Cornell because his social awkwardness prevented him from having a richer exterior life. He hated to part with his works and tried to avoid being an object of interest, although he counted many famous people as admirers.
I was sorry he was so in thrall to his mother. And, while he dearly loved his brother, Robert, it was impossible for him to feel he could leave the two of them alone. Consequently, Cornell's life was one of dreams and longing. Perhaps his art couldn't have been as compelling if his life had been any different.
I can't imagine reading a more thorough biography about an artist's life and work. It actually made me appreciate Cornell's work more.
(This book would be best read along with "Joseph Cornell, Master of Dreams" by Diane Waldman or "Joseph Cornell" edited by Kynaston McShine for their excellent reproductions of his work.)
October 24, 2018
I gave it four stars because I learned a lot and it was pleasant to read.
basically, cornell was a weirdo who was extremely constricted by guilt and fear and I feel like if he had lived in iowa, we wouldn't have even heard of him. because he was near new york at the time when he was, he had an entrance into the art world.
I guess I had a very different idea of what his boxes were. I thought of them more as sort of memory box assemblages. I mean, I didn't think about them much. I don't know that I've ever seen one in person. (and apparently that's the only way to properly appreciate them because they don't reproduce well in photographs and you miss things like the inset mirrors). a lot of them were a lot more spare than I imagined them.
but good for cornell, ol' kind of creepy impotent ballet-fixated christian scientist mama's boy social misfit cornell, he never learned to draw but he became an influential and important artist. it was definitely worth reading to get that little piece of art history.
basically, cornell was a weirdo who was extremely constricted by guilt and fear and I feel like if he had lived in iowa, we wouldn't have even heard of him. because he was near new york at the time when he was, he had an entrance into the art world.
I guess I had a very different idea of what his boxes were. I thought of them more as sort of memory box assemblages. I mean, I didn't think about them much. I don't know that I've ever seen one in person. (and apparently that's the only way to properly appreciate them because they don't reproduce well in photographs and you miss things like the inset mirrors). a lot of them were a lot more spare than I imagined them.
but good for cornell, ol' kind of creepy impotent ballet-fixated christian scientist mama's boy social misfit cornell, he never learned to draw but he became an influential and important artist. it was definitely worth reading to get that little piece of art history.
April 1, 2025
Very careful, contemplative, well written biography of a quiet American artist who associated with various artistic movements but was never really a part of any of them. Insightful comments on the mid-century New York art scene. Melancholic and beautiful.
In Japan, men who never marry, tend to live with their parents, and spend their life making art objects for themselves or playing video games, are classified to their own social group: “otaku.”
This is the story of an American “otaku” from Queens, New York who miraculously was able to display his unique art works in Manhattan art galleries, and carved out a niche in post war American art. His works were composed of the personal, nostalgic and melancholy, and this book about it is quiet and wonderful.
I take inspiration from this book in my own small hobby of sketching scenes observed in daily life, and art projects at home.
In Japan, men who never marry, tend to live with their parents, and spend their life making art objects for themselves or playing video games, are classified to their own social group: “otaku.”
This is the story of an American “otaku” from Queens, New York who miraculously was able to display his unique art works in Manhattan art galleries, and carved out a niche in post war American art. His works were composed of the personal, nostalgic and melancholy, and this book about it is quiet and wonderful.
I take inspiration from this book in my own small hobby of sketching scenes observed in daily life, and art projects at home.
July 9, 2011
Ruth, if you're interested in plates, this is *not* the book; which doesn't mean the text isn't good, I haven't read it. A captivating book with superb plates is this http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
July 9, 2011- Utopia Parkway is a deeply moving book that took Deborah Solomon seven years to write and I must say I could have gone on reading it forever. I was apprehensive because of rumors about her writing style being sensationalist and she recently lost her job at the NYTimes after some criticism from Ira Glass. I read about the situation, and, much as I like Ira Glass, think he had a vested interest in the topic because he has been hired by Showtime and the way Solomon wrote his interview made it seem Glass was critical of the network when he was not.
I was introduced to Cornell's work by a friend with whom I worked at the art department at NBC, though I'd probably seen some of his experimental films in high school. I had two excellent art teachers who taught us a lot, unfortunately not about Cornell. One year I participated in an program at the Met where we met different famous artists each Saturday morning for a couple months. Unfortunately Cornell was not one of them. However he did love students and probably would have participated had he been asked and well enough to do so. He was still alive though not in the best health.
Peter Guralnick quotes British historian Richard Holmes description of the biographer as "a sort of tramp permanently knocking at the kitchen window and secretly hoping he might be invited in for supper." Solomon's portrait is loving, but, at times, too personal. Who is Solomon to judge someone else's sexuality? But she did. I prefer not to dwell on the sadness and loneliness of Cornell's life but the wonderful legacy he left. He was kind to the blind and handicapped and I think had interesting friends, a lust for knowledge, sense of humor and one of the keenest artistic visions of the 20th century. He was not the recluse people made him out to be. He came to his own defense when deKooning criticized him. He'd visited him dozens of times where dK had not reciprocated once.
July 9, 2011- Utopia Parkway is a deeply moving book that took Deborah Solomon seven years to write and I must say I could have gone on reading it forever. I was apprehensive because of rumors about her writing style being sensationalist and she recently lost her job at the NYTimes after some criticism from Ira Glass. I read about the situation, and, much as I like Ira Glass, think he had a vested interest in the topic because he has been hired by Showtime and the way Solomon wrote his interview made it seem Glass was critical of the network when he was not.
I was introduced to Cornell's work by a friend with whom I worked at the art department at NBC, though I'd probably seen some of his experimental films in high school. I had two excellent art teachers who taught us a lot, unfortunately not about Cornell. One year I participated in an program at the Met where we met different famous artists each Saturday morning for a couple months. Unfortunately Cornell was not one of them. However he did love students and probably would have participated had he been asked and well enough to do so. He was still alive though not in the best health.
Peter Guralnick quotes British historian Richard Holmes description of the biographer as "a sort of tramp permanently knocking at the kitchen window and secretly hoping he might be invited in for supper." Solomon's portrait is loving, but, at times, too personal. Who is Solomon to judge someone else's sexuality? But she did. I prefer not to dwell on the sadness and loneliness of Cornell's life but the wonderful legacy he left. He was kind to the blind and handicapped and I think had interesting friends, a lust for knowledge, sense of humor and one of the keenest artistic visions of the 20th century. He was not the recluse people made him out to be. He came to his own defense when deKooning criticized him. He'd visited him dozens of times where dK had not reciprocated once.
September 28, 2017
This is arguably THE definitive biography for Joseph Cornell, and since it's publication in 1997, the author has diligently continued to update, add new findings, cut outdated content, for the 2015 edition (which I've just completed). Anyone interested in details of Cornell's life - from the variety of box construction series, galleries and shows, and shifts within his work, to personal details, including the relationships with his mother and brother, Robert, women and those he admired from afar - should read this book. That being said, this is not a book to consume in a couple of sittings. As with any biography full of dense details of a life, heavily researched with interviews with those who knew him, diary excerpts, archival materials consulted, the content takes time to digest. With this time, more layers of detail emerge.
Joseph Cornell is not only significant for the work he produced as a self-taught artist (from collage, to assemblage box constructions, to films), or as an artist who transcended art genres (from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art), but as a person who had an ENORMOUS amount of contacts across multiple creative spheres. He consumed poetry, theater, ballet, classical music, literature, French culture, film, science, spirituality ... His thirst for knowledge seemed somehow limitless, and the contents of his home and workshop bear evidence of his extensive collecting of materials related to each of this areas.
He spoke often with Tennessee Williams while he delivered collages for the covers of Dance Index magazine in the 1940s (they both loved birds, and had siblings with disabilities). He exchanged letters with Tamara Toumanova (prima ballerina and actress) and Allegra Kent (ballerina); Marianne Moore (Pulitzer Prize winning American poet), and Mina Loy; artists: Lee Bontecou, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Motherwell, Matta, Hans Namuth, Hans Richter, Mark Rothko, Dorothea Tanning, and countless others.
A recluse, he was not. Odd? I guess. Complex? More likely. He seemed to have a desperation to capture the entirety of a moment - the feelings, the angles of the light, the memories sparked by a moment, the connections made to other things within that moment. He wrote his, often disjointed, "diaries" on everything, including napkins, envelopes, paper bags, record store bags, scraps of paper, newspaper clippings, and notebooks. He traveled through time and space, throughout the world, without ever leaving the United States East Coast. His reluctance to 'finish' work by signing it, or selling or showing his work, shows that something wholly personal was an integral piece of everything he made.
A catalogue raisonne has never been published for Joseph Cornell - but hopefully it will eventually. The expansiveness of his work, the iterations of each "series", the details of each of his hundreds of collages - are somewhat unknown because of this missing piece. The contents of his basement workshop and garage are currently housed at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and everyone interested in Cornell should explore these materials - https://americanart.si.edu/research/c...
Joseph Cornell is not only significant for the work he produced as a self-taught artist (from collage, to assemblage box constructions, to films), or as an artist who transcended art genres (from Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art), but as a person who had an ENORMOUS amount of contacts across multiple creative spheres. He consumed poetry, theater, ballet, classical music, literature, French culture, film, science, spirituality ... His thirst for knowledge seemed somehow limitless, and the contents of his home and workshop bear evidence of his extensive collecting of materials related to each of this areas.
He spoke often with Tennessee Williams while he delivered collages for the covers of Dance Index magazine in the 1940s (they both loved birds, and had siblings with disabilities). He exchanged letters with Tamara Toumanova (prima ballerina and actress) and Allegra Kent (ballerina); Marianne Moore (Pulitzer Prize winning American poet), and Mina Loy; artists: Lee Bontecou, Marcel Duchamp, Robert Motherwell, Matta, Hans Namuth, Hans Richter, Mark Rothko, Dorothea Tanning, and countless others.
A recluse, he was not. Odd? I guess. Complex? More likely. He seemed to have a desperation to capture the entirety of a moment - the feelings, the angles of the light, the memories sparked by a moment, the connections made to other things within that moment. He wrote his, often disjointed, "diaries" on everything, including napkins, envelopes, paper bags, record store bags, scraps of paper, newspaper clippings, and notebooks. He traveled through time and space, throughout the world, without ever leaving the United States East Coast. His reluctance to 'finish' work by signing it, or selling or showing his work, shows that something wholly personal was an integral piece of everything he made.
A catalogue raisonne has never been published for Joseph Cornell - but hopefully it will eventually. The expansiveness of his work, the iterations of each "series", the details of each of his hundreds of collages - are somewhat unknown because of this missing piece. The contents of his basement workshop and garage are currently housed at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and everyone interested in Cornell should explore these materials - https://americanart.si.edu/research/c...
February 20, 2013
This biography of Cornell was hard for me to get into, but once I did I found it thought-provoking and very affecting, because Cornell's life was so very strange and his work so simple yet mysterious. Deborah Solomon is a knowledgeable art critic and biographer, and she tells Cornell's story with great sympathy. Warning, this book has very low-resolution black and white images, and not very many. After I finished this I read Charles Simic's Dime-Store Alchemy, which is a lovely evocation of Cornell. I have always been fascinated by Cornell's work, and I look forward to seeing it again with new eyes.
November 21, 2008
Fascinating book about Joseph Cornell. Interesting insight into the New York art world of the fifties and sixties. It is hard to believe that Joseph Cornell received recognition within the art community in his lifetime. Without self promotion, I doubt that that would happen now. Since I find obsessive personalities interesting, I found this book hard to put down.
December 26, 2016
Utopia Parkway: the Life and Work of Joseph Cornell, could be by far the best biography of an artist I have ever read and that due to a number of reasons. At first hand, Deborah Solomon, an art critic, journalist, and biographer did a marvelous work transcribing the life of Joseph Cornell so close that the reader feels living under his skin. Her writing is so detailed, one would find himself/herself in high anticipation from chapter to another. She has skillfully weaved together facts, anecdote, and conjectures, that is refreshing and ever-more alive and beating ( Notes on each chapters can be found from page 495 to page 536).
She writes," (Joseph Cornell) fantasy world was always more alive to him than the world in which he woke up every day and tended to the mundane details of living" - P. 491 (2015 edition). she also writes, " it is hard to think of another American artist who was receptive to so many different art movements or who managed to win the admiration of everyone from the Surrealists in the 1940s to the Abstract Expressionists in the 1950s to the pop artists in the 1960s. Artists who agreed on little else agreed on Cornell."
Joseph Cornell is an artist of the stellar system who cared less of worldly matters, who lived the past and brought it alive in his shadow boxes, that at first was met with scorn but grew as he evolved to become of something of an art world sensation and brought him fame that alienated him even more than it contained him. He's an artist who, "found his epiphanies in the banal - in marbles and metal springs and other frugal objects, mingling the visionary aims of French symbolism with a literalism that is distinctly American," Solomon writes.
Above all, Joseph Cornell was hyper sensitive to how his art work (Shadow boxes) were acquired by art dealers and collectors, that he would get stressed out whenever his art work circulated and sold, which is a rarity at the time and today. He's an artist who favored ordinary people, students, and children over the circle of the art world - that I feel what makes him unique and brings his life experience closer to the common reader who will surely grow interested in seeing his work alive displayed in Museums and private collections. This very reader is among many who followed closely on his work and legacy.
There are so much to tell about Joseph Cornell's life and his artwork and obsessive collection of oddities from NYC bookshops and antique stores at the time of his magical creations, and his preoccupation with lost and rare films- a filmmaker in his own good that helmed an avant-garde films that can be found screening at film anthologies in NYC.
(Cornell in pictures: http://faculty2.vassar.edu/haroseman/...)
She writes," (Joseph Cornell) fantasy world was always more alive to him than the world in which he woke up every day and tended to the mundane details of living" - P. 491 (2015 edition). she also writes, " it is hard to think of another American artist who was receptive to so many different art movements or who managed to win the admiration of everyone from the Surrealists in the 1940s to the Abstract Expressionists in the 1950s to the pop artists in the 1960s. Artists who agreed on little else agreed on Cornell."
Joseph Cornell is an artist of the stellar system who cared less of worldly matters, who lived the past and brought it alive in his shadow boxes, that at first was met with scorn but grew as he evolved to become of something of an art world sensation and brought him fame that alienated him even more than it contained him. He's an artist who, "found his epiphanies in the banal - in marbles and metal springs and other frugal objects, mingling the visionary aims of French symbolism with a literalism that is distinctly American," Solomon writes.
Above all, Joseph Cornell was hyper sensitive to how his art work (Shadow boxes) were acquired by art dealers and collectors, that he would get stressed out whenever his art work circulated and sold, which is a rarity at the time and today. He's an artist who favored ordinary people, students, and children over the circle of the art world - that I feel what makes him unique and brings his life experience closer to the common reader who will surely grow interested in seeing his work alive displayed in Museums and private collections. This very reader is among many who followed closely on his work and legacy.
There are so much to tell about Joseph Cornell's life and his artwork and obsessive collection of oddities from NYC bookshops and antique stores at the time of his magical creations, and his preoccupation with lost and rare films- a filmmaker in his own good that helmed an avant-garde films that can be found screening at film anthologies in NYC.
(Cornell in pictures: http://faculty2.vassar.edu/haroseman/...)
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August 29, 2011Not quite finished (p. 364) -- Cornell made art out of things he collected, & I am beginning to do the same. We talked about him briefly in April's collage class at LeMoyne Gallery (class ended Sunday). Kurt Schwitters is considered the essential modern collagist, with Cornell right behind. Reading this makes me aware of the definitions (does anybody care?): Collage is two-dimensional pasting & maybe layering of cut-out images, either drawn or found. Decoupage gets three-dimensional, things sticking out from the surface -- like seashells or forks. Assemblage uses things, unaltered. It is related to sculpture but it's not shaped by the artist in the way sculpture is. Assemblage shapes come from the connecting of things. (I'm writing this to clarify for myself.)
Cornell made collages & assemblages. He is famous for his boxes with things glued inside. A long time ago I was drawn to Cornell, when I saw pictures of his assemblages. I just liked them. But in my 20's I saw some of his boxes at the Chicago Art Institute. I found them gloomy. Now that I've read Cornell's life, I know why: he had a gloomy, airless personal life. He was in his own box, unable to break through & relate to people. He had an intense family life, boxed into a plain house in Queens with his handicapped brother & smothering mom. (Two sisters escaped through marriage. The father died early.) Cornell sold wool in the city, then quit to spend more time in the basement making things. I identify! But he kept going to New York to attend the Christian Science services & to pick up stuff from sidewalks. Again, I identify! At home in the middle of the night he took a cup of tea to the basement & cut things out & glued them down, juxtaposing the unlikely. After a time he presented them to galleries, & some were shown. He got really famous only after he was 60, shortly after both his mother & brother had died. By then he was annoyed by the demands of fame.
Cornell was a Surrealist when they were on top; then an Abstract-Expressionist. Then a Pop artist. All the while he was himself, morphing through his stuff. Now people call him a genius. I like that he wasn't a reckless egomaniac. But he was wrapped up in himself, often depressed & inhospitable ... and maybe just as often elated by the miraculous interconnection of things & the holiness of scraps.
2. Joseph Cornell died - I knew, but still a shock. Dr. said probably a heart attack, no pain. He was lying on the couch in his overcoat, with a blanket pulled up to his chin. It was winter, Dec. 29, 1972. He had just turned 69. Fifty people attended his funeral. Solomon thinks it fitting that his ashes were buried in a small box.
Cornell made collages & assemblages. He is famous for his boxes with things glued inside. A long time ago I was drawn to Cornell, when I saw pictures of his assemblages. I just liked them. But in my 20's I saw some of his boxes at the Chicago Art Institute. I found them gloomy. Now that I've read Cornell's life, I know why: he had a gloomy, airless personal life. He was in his own box, unable to break through & relate to people. He had an intense family life, boxed into a plain house in Queens with his handicapped brother & smothering mom. (Two sisters escaped through marriage. The father died early.) Cornell sold wool in the city, then quit to spend more time in the basement making things. I identify! But he kept going to New York to attend the Christian Science services & to pick up stuff from sidewalks. Again, I identify! At home in the middle of the night he took a cup of tea to the basement & cut things out & glued them down, juxtaposing the unlikely. After a time he presented them to galleries, & some were shown. He got really famous only after he was 60, shortly after both his mother & brother had died. By then he was annoyed by the demands of fame.
Cornell was a Surrealist when they were on top; then an Abstract-Expressionist. Then a Pop artist. All the while he was himself, morphing through his stuff. Now people call him a genius. I like that he wasn't a reckless egomaniac. But he was wrapped up in himself, often depressed & inhospitable ... and maybe just as often elated by the miraculous interconnection of things & the holiness of scraps.
2. Joseph Cornell died - I knew, but still a shock. Dr. said probably a heart attack, no pain. He was lying on the couch in his overcoat, with a blanket pulled up to his chin. It was winter, Dec. 29, 1972. He had just turned 69. Fifty people attended his funeral. Solomon thinks it fitting that his ashes were buried in a small box.
December 7, 2007
Joseph Cornell is insane which is why I wanted to read his biography. This biography reads more like a story, relying more on narrative and description than facts like dates and so forth. I'm not big on biographies, but this was really easy to enjoy and gave a lot of information about where his art originated.
January 4, 2015
I enjoyed this bio very much. I've had the opportunity to see much of Cornell's work in various museum shows, and so I was happy to discover the "back story" of this artist and his somewhat insular world of Utopia Parkway.
September 25, 2007
joseph cornell loves pigeons, and you should too.
November 14, 2010
I saw this in the bookstore at the Orange Co Museum of Art today. Definitely something I want, as soon as I gear up to the $65 price tag.
May 5, 2022
What a fascinating book! Who would have thought that the life of an artist who lived in a modest house in Queens, with his shrewish mother and disabled brother, and who never had a proper "arty" job, would have been so interesting? I would even say : a life as strange and contained as the shadow boxes that made Joseph Cornell's reputation.
There is only so much that can be said about a life that is as physically and geographically constrained as Joseph Cornell's, and so I was very interested to read that, for all his isolation and middle-class lifestyle, he was actually in frequent touch with the artists of New York, or of Paris (when they came to New York). The book explains very lucidly how he was influenced and inspired by the Surrealists, then the Neo-Romantics, eventually knew the Abstract Expressionists, Minimalists and Pop Art stars. I can only smile at what the rugged machismo of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock in Manhattan must have meant to this shy man from Queens. But artistic influences can flourish where friendship, or at least the usual hanging-out-together-and-having-fun type of friendship, can't.
I had also not realized how obsessive a collector Joseph Cornell was. Images, books, dime store finds, stuffed birds, cordial glasses, balls...these materials ended up not only in his shadow boxes and collages, but in overflowing bins in his basement workshop. Some topics, like ballerinas and pretty actresses, interested him for more than half a century.
I was also interested to learn how much of Joseph Cornell's work was an exercise in nostalgia, a harking back to the world of automats, diners, the El... a world that started to vanish in the 1950s and was soon swallowed up by the roiling 1960s. Somehow Joseph Cornell managed to make some hippie friends (and even a hippie girlfriend or two) when he was in his 60s!
A fascinating book, highly recommended to anyone who has ever stood in front of a Joseph Cornell box and felt both attracted and discombobulated by the strange juxtapositions of images and objects.
There is only so much that can be said about a life that is as physically and geographically constrained as Joseph Cornell's, and so I was very interested to read that, for all his isolation and middle-class lifestyle, he was actually in frequent touch with the artists of New York, or of Paris (when they came to New York). The book explains very lucidly how he was influenced and inspired by the Surrealists, then the Neo-Romantics, eventually knew the Abstract Expressionists, Minimalists and Pop Art stars. I can only smile at what the rugged machismo of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock in Manhattan must have meant to this shy man from Queens. But artistic influences can flourish where friendship, or at least the usual hanging-out-together-and-having-fun type of friendship, can't.
I had also not realized how obsessive a collector Joseph Cornell was. Images, books, dime store finds, stuffed birds, cordial glasses, balls...these materials ended up not only in his shadow boxes and collages, but in overflowing bins in his basement workshop. Some topics, like ballerinas and pretty actresses, interested him for more than half a century.
I was also interested to learn how much of Joseph Cornell's work was an exercise in nostalgia, a harking back to the world of automats, diners, the El... a world that started to vanish in the 1950s and was soon swallowed up by the roiling 1960s. Somehow Joseph Cornell managed to make some hippie friends (and even a hippie girlfriend or two) when he was in his 60s!
A fascinating book, highly recommended to anyone who has ever stood in front of a Joseph Cornell box and felt both attracted and discombobulated by the strange juxtapositions of images and objects.
May 6, 2020
On many levels this is a frustrating book, probably not helped by being read next to the Tomkins’ Duchamp biography. Where that manages to weave the stories of Duchamp and his art deftly around the other people in his life, Solomon sometimes really struggles. The Duchamp sections exemplify this frustration, where she calls him that “poker faced prankster”, talks about his “anti art antics” and his “absurd machines” which either suggest she’s never done any actual reading on him or has never managed to grasp what the artist was trying to do. Several times, Solomon almost stumbles across a really brilliant idea but manages to completely miss it
But having said that, Cornell must be one hell of a difficult artist to write about. His artistic essence feels like ephemeral on the page, the man himself like a ghost slowly fading out of his own life. In the last decade - which Solomon deals with beautifully - all the obsessions and fascinations take on an almost morbid inevitability as they slowly destroy him. The last few chapters are devastating, as bleak a portrait of a man depressed by his inability to fully express himself other than in his strange, wispy creations. Kudos goes to not trying to do cheap psychoanalysis on Cornell too - he very obviously was somewhere on the autistic spectrum but cheap goes at trying to define this would just damage the book’s flow
Finally, what surprised me most of all was how much Cornell feels like the minor chord shadow of the life of Edward Gorey. Both eccentric, both longing for a past they never knew, obsessed with ballet, inveterate readers and hoarders and in their own way innovators who created a new genre to express their lives in. It’s just that Gorey had an exterior world and Cornell’s was obsessively interior. It’s as if the collages are him raking over his past and the boxes are expressions of the prison of his own horribly confused emotions, a box that in the end destroyed him
But having said that, Cornell must be one hell of a difficult artist to write about. His artistic essence feels like ephemeral on the page, the man himself like a ghost slowly fading out of his own life. In the last decade - which Solomon deals with beautifully - all the obsessions and fascinations take on an almost morbid inevitability as they slowly destroy him. The last few chapters are devastating, as bleak a portrait of a man depressed by his inability to fully express himself other than in his strange, wispy creations. Kudos goes to not trying to do cheap psychoanalysis on Cornell too - he very obviously was somewhere on the autistic spectrum but cheap goes at trying to define this would just damage the book’s flow
Finally, what surprised me most of all was how much Cornell feels like the minor chord shadow of the life of Edward Gorey. Both eccentric, both longing for a past they never knew, obsessed with ballet, inveterate readers and hoarders and in their own way innovators who created a new genre to express their lives in. It’s just that Gorey had an exterior world and Cornell’s was obsessively interior. It’s as if the collages are him raking over his past and the boxes are expressions of the prison of his own horribly confused emotions, a box that in the end destroyed him
July 27, 2021
I remember the first time I saw one of Joseph Cornell’s little boxes in an art museum. It was mysterious, full of power and beauty, but it was also something that remained deeply private despite its public display. In this thorough biography of Cornell, we get to understand Cornell’s private world of obsessions, sexual frustration, family trauma, and eccentric artist status in the heady world of the post-War NY art scene. One begins the biography feeling sorry for him—his father dies, they lose their money and downsize from suburban comfort to a small house in Queens. Cornell is stuck as a caretaker for a disabled brother and an overbearing mother, never really getting the chance to become a “normal” functioning adult. While he held down a sales job for many years, he was shy beyond shyness and lived in his own world of imagination and collecting. Still he managed to promote his art through key connections to artists (he knew Duchamp, De Kooning, and Motherwell quite well) and gallery owners. His odd small boxes, first seen as little more than toys, slowly grow in status from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. He is claimed by the Surrealists, Abstract Expressionists, and Pop artists, showing both his status as an artist and his influence on other artists. There is certainly a dark side to Cornell--his creepy obsessions with young women, his easily bruised feelings, his distrust of people—and by the end of this 400 page biography, I lose pretty much all sympathy I felt for him earlier in his life. He resembles Andy Warhol in many of his personality traits (he also had an obsession with celebrities), and while they met, they were not friends. I imagine it was a case of two people disliking the mirror image they saw.
March 17, 2025
What is it about someone that draws you to them, that follows you around until you stumble upon te knowledge of this person and investigate why. Joseph Cornell was a humble and lonely artist that lived with his Mother and a handicapped brother for most of his entire life. I am a reader of memoirs and biographies of famous people be it actors, artists and writers and in several of this books the person would talk about seeing a Joseph Cornell box and be influenced by this work of art. That would be it, no explanation or anything, just the fact that they saw a Joseph Cornell box. So I decided to search and learn what I could about Joseph Cornell.
Joseph Cornell created beautiful and elaborate glassed shadowboxes. In spite of his recluse behavior his work became famous and people started going to Utopia Parkway where he lived and seeking to visit with him. The book is the story of this great artist and is will worth the time to read.
Joseph Cornell created beautiful and elaborate glassed shadowboxes. In spite of his recluse behavior his work became famous and people started going to Utopia Parkway where he lived and seeking to visit with him. The book is the story of this great artist and is will worth the time to read.
December 8, 2025
If you are looking to read a book on the life of a probable autistic artist making his way through the 40s,50s,& 60s in good ol’ NYC, all while having a slightly concerning obsession with young women - look no further!
Most of this book is kind of a bummer in the sense that Cornell lived a tough life - his own mind being the leading antagonist along with the other uncontrollable circumstances assigned to him. He remained misunderstood by many that crossed his path. Still, Solomon writes a compelling description of the world of an introverted, isolated, and talented individual. I give an extra star simply for the execution of the narration.
I came to this book fascinated by the Cornell boxes and I remain this way after, albeit with much more context and a reminder to always share kindness with the quirky, soft hearted weirdos in this world.
Most of this book is kind of a bummer in the sense that Cornell lived a tough life - his own mind being the leading antagonist along with the other uncontrollable circumstances assigned to him. He remained misunderstood by many that crossed his path. Still, Solomon writes a compelling description of the world of an introverted, isolated, and talented individual. I give an extra star simply for the execution of the narration.
I came to this book fascinated by the Cornell boxes and I remain this way after, albeit with much more context and a reminder to always share kindness with the quirky, soft hearted weirdos in this world.
February 22, 2019
This was an excellent biography of Joseph Cornell without interjecting too much personal opinion or interpretation from the author. (Any opinion is clearly stated as such.)
Most art books about Joseph Cornell try to interject a guess at the meanings behind his work and mask it as fact. As an artist, I find this infuriating. Utopia Parkway tells the reader the facts - the important moments in his life, the shares evidence of his obsessions and collections, the documentation of happenings in his day to day - and lets the reader come to their own interpretations based on the data surrounding him at the time. This book allowed me to develop a deep appreciation of Joseph Cornell the person and artist.
Most art books about Joseph Cornell try to interject a guess at the meanings behind his work and mask it as fact. As an artist, I find this infuriating. Utopia Parkway tells the reader the facts - the important moments in his life, the shares evidence of his obsessions and collections, the documentation of happenings in his day to day - and lets the reader come to their own interpretations based on the data surrounding him at the time. This book allowed me to develop a deep appreciation of Joseph Cornell the person and artist.
October 26, 2017
To convey the full measure of the life of Joseph Cornell must be a true challenge. Cornell, a great artist beset by emotional and social issues, led a guarded, spartan existence with few true human connections. His emotional immaturity inspired his creepy preoccupation with young women and stopped him from pursuing healthy sexual and romantic connections. Instead, much of his energy, intellect, and ardor was funneled into his extensive collections and imaginative artwork. Somehow, Solomon is able to acknowledge Cornell's unusual predilections and unhealthy social and familial situations while still conveying the artist's appeal and his artistic achievement.
June 29, 2019
A thoroughly researched biography of an unusual and creative American artist about whom I knew little prior to reading the book. Solomon treats her subject with empathy as many would call this artist odd. This book also serves as a fount of information about the mid century New York art scene. I found it interesting even though it is a departure from my usual genres. I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Thanks.
February 13, 2020
Detailed biography that was very readable, especially for someone not very familiar with the works of Joseph Cornell. I read for the Phoenix Art Museum book club. We viewed the current exhibit and discussed his works. I appreciated the book more after the discussion. And I'm amazed at the impact his work had on modern art. Well worth my time.
February 7, 2020
I wish there was a half star rating because I would give this one 3.5 stars. Very accessible biography of a fascinating figure in modern art. I felt the author’s interpretation was a little heavy at times.
January 19, 2021
Extensively well-researched, insightful, and sad. I loved the dream-world of Cornell’s visions, but his life is a melancholy story that will either motivate you to be a braver artist or leave you wandering around your own house disconsolate in bathrobe and slippers.
July 30, 2024
Wonderful book if you're just interested in Cornell's work, but also incredibly comprehensive if you're a scholar of his work. Solomon's writing style is accessible and clear. She handles all the abstraction of Cornell's work with deft analysis. Highly recommended.
September 4, 2017
"Everything about this pale, bony man and his antique-looking shadow boxes made him seem like an intruder from another century, if not another world."
December 25, 2018
Fascinating and sad
Wonderful to read the inner workings of an artist. But The price he paid haunted him for the rest of his life.
Wonderful to read the inner workings of an artist. But The price he paid haunted him for the rest of his life.
January 17, 2021
Fascinating and detailed, but deeply melancholy
March 21, 2017
I picked up this book on a whim after seeing some of Mr. Cornell's work at MoMA. I am so happy that I did....what a strange and talented man he was. Great job by the author Deborah Solomon to illustrate this odd and unusual artist's like and his works. Bravo!
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