Joseph Cornell

Joseph Cornell was born in Nyack, New York, in 1903 and died in Flushing, New York, in 1972. Largely self-taught, he is best known for his box constructions: small, collage-like assemblages of cast-off materials gathered from Long Island beaches and Manhattan thrift stores, arranged in glass-fronted wooden boxes and drawing on fairy tales, mythology, astronomy, ballet, opera and Hollywood film. He was also an avant-garde experimental filmmaker, and his work was influenced by the Surrealists. SFMOMA holds a group of his works, including Bébé Marie (1938).