Joseph Cornell (b. 1903 – d. 1972) was a major American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of the art of assemblage, whose magical and Surrealistic boxes have inspired successive generations of artists and are considered the precursors to installation and pop art.
'Hotel du Nord' is a color silkscreen created in 1972 - the last year of the artist's life, after Cornell's iconic "Hotel du Nord (Little Durer)", a chef d'oeuvre of assemblage which incorporates a reproduction of the famous self-portrait by Albrecht Durer at age 13, who was one of the most significant artists of the Northern Renaissance. In "Hotel du Nord", the incorporation of portraiture is multi-layered, representing Cornell's respect for the great artists who have preceded him as well as his interest in the formal qualities found in the pictures themselves.
The fact that Cornell would choose his 1950s masterpiece "Hotel du Nord" as the subject of this stunning silkscreen, published by Brooke Alexander in 1972 - the year of his death - speaks to the importance of the work in the artist's entire oeuvre and explains why true fans and collectors of Cornell's work love this print. Thus, "Hotel du Nord (Little Durer)" is not only an homage to the great Renaissance artist Durer, but, as one of his last pieces, it can also be seen as a tribute to Joseph Cornell's own life's work.
Using found materials from New York City thrift stores, Joseph Cornell created dozens of fantastical worlds in glass-covered boxes. A self-taught artist who dropped out of Phillips Exeter Academy, he rarely left his home in Flushing, Queens, where he lived with his mother and cared for his brother with cerebral palsy. Despite his rather reclusive life, Cornell was extremely well read and equally well versed in the contemporary New York art scene and he would often create exquisite boxes with precious objects and send them to celebrities like Lauren Bacall whom he adored from afar. Many of his boxes, such as the famous Medici Slot Machine boxes, are interactive and are meant to be handled. (Indeed, his last exhibition in 1972 was for children.) Drawing on the complexity and whimsy of Surrealism, though devoid of its more decadent and sinister referenes, Cornell would layer materials in his assemblages to speak to a profound artistic sophistication championed by fellow artists for their beauty and nostalgia.
Pencil signed and annotated Artists Proof recto (front), aside from the regular edition of 125
