Happy Birthday, Joseph Cornell!
December 22 and 26, 2003
Best known for his evocative box-constructions,
in which he assembled small objects and ephemera, the American
Surrealist Joseph Cornell
(1903–1972) was also a devoted fan of the cinema. He thrived
on almost daily visits to movie theaters, amassed archives of films
and film stills, created an influential body of experimental films,
and produced works of art honoring his favorite female stars. Organized
to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth, this program
reflects Cornell’s interest in cinema and is organized in three
parts: the recent discovery of a film made by the artist; the recreation of a 1949 film program organized by the artist; and a tribute to
his own love of motion pictures. In movies adored by Cornell and
made by him, we see dreamscapes, lyrical views of New York, and longings
for unattainable women.
Organized by Jodi Hauptman, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings,
and Anne Morra, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media.
. 1965. USA. Directed by Joseph Cornell. Made in
memory of the death of Joyce Hunter, a teenage runaway Cornell encountered
during his trips to a Manhattan coffee shop. Believed lost, this
film was recently found in a collection donated to MoMA in 1995 by
the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. Newly preserved,
Flushing Meadows constitutes the discovery portion of this program.
8 min.
. An avid collector of
movies, Cornell organized “film soirées” at
Manhattan galleries. This silent program is full of visual tricks,
transformations, and shifts of scale—amazing effects that also
manifested themselves sculpturally in Cornell’s box-constructions.
Featuring what Cornell called “early fantasy” films,
this program is a partial recreation of a 1949 evening organized
by the artist.
. c.1905. France. Produced by Pathé Frères.
Directed by Ferdinand Zecca. Approx. 2 min.
. c.1908. France. Produced by Pathé Frères.
Approx. 3 min.
. 1912. France.
Produced by Pathé Frères. Directed by Roméo
Bosetti. Approx. 6 min.
. 1949. USA. Directed by William Dieterle. With
Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Lillian Gish. Jennie, an enigmatic
young woman from another era, and Eben Adams, a painter, meet and
fall in love. Their mysterious relationship flourishes against the
backdrop of New York City—there is a scene at the Central Park
Dairy where Cornell went to see Dieterle at work. A tribute to Cornell’s
adoration of the actress Jennifer Jones and this film. 86 min.
Program approx. 105 min.
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