Untitled (Lighted Owl)

c. 1949

Joseph Cornell
American, 1903-1972

Cornell’s bird boxes often play with forms of representation and with the contrast between the natural and the artificial. In his trips into the countryside, he would often gather materials for his boxes, and in this one, the large, angular piece of bark placed toward the right interior edge may be the lump Cornell reported finding in January 1948 and described as “magnificently dried bark for owl bark, single piece, for owl boxes” (Cornell 1993, p. 152). In any case it adds a sense of depth to the box by providing a kind of opened curtain, from behind which the owl is revealed. The sheet of blue glass renders the interior as dark as a forest at night, and the small electric bulb above, when lit, suggests moonlight. The dramatic chiaroscuro effect prompts comparison with photography, as well as underlining the contrast between the two-dimensional pictorial representation of the owl and its “real” habitat. The numerous worm holes in the wood frame are the result of simulated rather than authentic insect damage and appear to be original to the box‘s construction. For more on Cornell‘s Owl Boxes, see Untitled (Large Owl).

— Entry, Dawn Ades, Surrealist Art: The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997, p. 61.

Status: On View, Gallery 397
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Joseph Cornell
Title: Untitled (Lighted Owl)
Place: United States (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1944–1954
Medium: Stained wood box with glass front, paper, light bulb, colored-paper image on wood form, plastic spider, tree bark, and dried leaves
Inscriptions: Signed on back, lower center, on strip of paper: Joseph Cornell
Dimensions: 36.6 × 26.1 × 13.2 cm (14 3/8 × 10 1/4 × 5 3/16 in.); +: D.: 0.7 cm (1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Lindy and Edwin Bergman Joseph Cornell Collection
Reference Number: 1982.1840

Chicago, Joseph Cornell, 1980-82, traveled to London, Düsseldorf, Florence, Paris, and New York, exh. cat., no. S-33, as Untitled (Owl Box)

Elizabeth Cornell Benton, Westhampton, New York; sold to Lindy and Edwin Bergman, Chicago, 1977; given to the Art Institute, 1982.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.