L'Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode, cours élémentaire d'histoire naturelle 1940

Joseph Cornell made this wooden box construction, L'Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode, cours élémentaire d'histoire naturelle, using found objects. I love how Cornell’s process feels like a form of collecting, not just objects, but moments and memories. He's arranging all these little glass vials, some with red liquid, others with a pearlescent shimmer, inside a wooden box. It’s like a cabinet of curiosities, or maybe a traveling salesman’s sample kit. The inside of the box lid is collaged with an image of a textbook, and some tiny marbled paper along the sides. It’s so evocative, this juxtaposition of the scientific with the aesthetic, like a memory box. Cornell seems interested in how we archive the past, how we turn history into a kind of personal poetry. Cornell always makes me think of Kurt Schwitters, another artist who used found objects to create deeply personal worlds. Both artists invite us to find beauty in the everyday and see the world as a place of endless possibilities. Their work is less about answers, and more about posing questions.