JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) - photo 1
JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) - photo 2
JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) - photo 3
JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) - photo 4
JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) - photo 5
JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) - photo 6

JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972)

Lot 19
18.05.2026 00:00UTC +01:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1574196
Lot 19 | JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972)
Estimate value
$ 3 000 000 – 5 000 000
JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972)
Untitled (Medici Princess)
wood box construction—wood, printed paper collage, paint, glass, metal, mirror, cork, marble, feather, colored aluminum foil and thread
17 ½ x 11 x 4 ½ in. (44.5 x 27.9 x 11.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1948




Provenance

Tony Curtis, Los Angeles, acquired directly from the artist, by 27 February 1964
Acquired by the late owner, by 1980



Literature

"Joseph Cornell," Museum of Modern Art Brochure, no. 16, Fall 1980, n.p. (illustrated; titled Medici Princess).
L. Besozzi, "L'uomo che metteva in scatola i suoi sogni," Bolaffi: La rivista dell'arte, vol. 12, no. 109, June 1981, p. 341 (illustrated).
S. Grasso, "La memoria chiusa in una scatola," Corriere della Sera, 17 July 1981, n.p. (illustrated; dated 1948).
V. Apuleo, "Le magiche scatole di Cornell," Il Messaggero, 13 August 1981, n.p. (detail illustrated).
D. Waldman, Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams, New York, 2002, pp. 70-71 (illustrated).
L. R. Hartigan, R. Vine and R. Lehrman, Joseph Cornell: Shadowplay Eterniday, New York and London, 2003, pp. 110-111, no. 29 (illustrated and detail illustrated).
A. Gluibizzi, "Souvenirs: Cornell Duchamp Johns Rauschenberg," Brooklyn Rail, March 2021, digital (illustrated).
D. Hopkins, Dark Toys: Surrealism and the Culture of Childhood, New Haven, 2021, n.p., pl. 25 (illustrated).



Exhibited

New York, Museum of Modern Art; London, Whitechapel Art Gallery; Düsseldorf, Stadtische Kunsthalle; Florence, Palazzo Pitti; Paris, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Cornell, November 1980-March 1982, p. 130, no. XI (illustrated).
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Transformations in Sculpture: Four Decades of American and European Art, November 1985-February 1986, p. 82, no. 22 (illustrated).
New York, Museum of Modern Art; Art Institute of Chicago and Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, October 1990-September 1991, pp. 312-313, no. 137 (illustrated).
New York, Joseph Helman Gallery, Joseph Cornell: Memories, March-April 1999, n.p., no. 15 (illustrated).
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian American Art Museum and Salem, Peabody Essex Museum, Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination, November 2006-August 2007, pp. 202 and 370, no. 99, pl. 77 (illustrated).
New York, Allan Stone Gallery, Joseph Cornell, October-December 2002, n.p., no. 32 (illustrated and detail illustrated; dated 1948).
London, Royal Academy of Arts and Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Joseph Cornell: Wanderlust, July 2015-January 2016, pp. 173 and 182-183, no. 52 (illustrated and detail illustrated).
New York, Craig Starr Gallery, Souvenirs: Cornell Duchamp Johns Rauschenberg, October 2020-March 2021.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
18.05.2026 – 18.05.2026
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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