Joseph Cornell

One of my favorite artists of all time is Joseph Cornell. I was just paging through a collection of his letters and diaries and came across this letter to Mina Loy (below). Since we were just reading her amazing "letters to Joannes" I thought I'd put it here. I adore Cornell's use of the color blue in his assemblages. It occurs to me that it might have been an unconscious influence on the look of this blog. There is a Cornell box at the DIA that I've spent a lot of time staring at; it looks very similar to the one here except it contains a very shadowy image of a brown-haired girl.

{to Mina Loy}

July 3, 1951,

Dear Mina,

I had a beautiful early morning in the backyard under the Chinese quince tree--very early in fact, not much after five; and I could not help but think of you, looking up at the moon, when the first rays of the sun turn its gold into silver. A long time ago, you may remember, you told me that your destiny was ravelled up somehow with the lunar globe, but even aside from this I have always experienced something wonderful evoked in this mood.

Con Amore,