Miniature Worlds: Joseph Cornell, Ray Johnson, Yayoi Kusama

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Miniature Worlds explores the relationships between Joseph Cornell and two pioneering artists—Ray Johnson and Yayoi Kusama—and brings their works together for the first time.


Both Johnson and Kusama met Cornell in the 1960s, when they were fast becoming fixtures of New York’s downtown art scene. Even in an environment that prized experimentation, Johnson and Kusama were unusually and radically inventive. They worked in painting and collage as well as emergent forms like installation art, performance, and mail art, often simultaneously. In many ways, Cornell was their polar opposite. A generation older, he had been exhibiting his box assemblages and collages in the city’s more conservative, uptown galleries and museums since the 1930s. Yet, for both Johnson and Kusama, Cornell was a friend, artistic lodestar, and model for cultivating a creative practice—and, indeed, a creative life—on one’s own terms.


This exhibition examines the prominent role Cornell played within the vast network of visual and textual references and free-form associations that Johnson synthesized from his every-day life. It also traces how Kusama turned to collage to evoke and commemorate Cornell. Like all relationships, these two friendships were worlds unto themselves, complete with their own histories, languages, and complex emotional terrains. The intimate, small-scale works exhibited here were shaped by and reflect these miniature worlds.


Purchase a Miniature Worlds: Joseph Cornell, Ray Johnson, Yayoi Kusama catalogue
 

Details about forthcoming programs and events are accessible in the KMA's Spring 2023 newsletter.

Exhibition Images

picture for Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama Flower 192, 1953 Gouache and pastel on paper 13 1/2 X 11 7/8 in. (34.3 x 30.2 cm) Estate of Dr. Teruo Hirose © YAYOI KUSAMA
picture for Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell Untitled (Swan Box), c. 1945 Box construction 4 7/8 x 6 3/8 x 1 1/4 in. (12.5 x 16.3 x 3.2 cm) Collection of Long View Legacy LLC © 2023 The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
picture for Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama Fortress of Stars, 1988 Mixed media 15 5/8 x 10 7/8 x 4 3/4 in. (39.7 x 27.6 x 12.1 cm) National Gallery of Art, Washinton, DC Corcoran Collection (Gift of Anthony T. Podesta, Washington DC), 2015.19.3942 © YAYOI KUSAMA
picture for Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama Bird, 1980 Collage, pastel, gouache, and ink on paper 25 7/8 x 20 in. (65.7 x 50.8 cm) Private Collection, Courtesy of Omer Tiroche Gallery © YAYOI KUSAMA
picture for Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell What Makes the Weather, 1964 Collaged paper on board 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Richard L. Feigen Collection © 2023 The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
picture for Ray Johnson
Ray Johnson Collage by Joseph Cornell (by Ray Johnson), n.d. Ink and collage on cardboard Courtesy of the Ray Johnson Estate © 2023 Ray Johnson Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
picture for Ray Johnson
Ray Johnson Untitled (Joseph Cornell Bunny with sand and Swan), n.d. Collage on corrugated cardboard 16 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (42.5 x 34.3 cm) Courtesy of the Ray Johnson Estate © 2023 Ray Johnson Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
picture for Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell Untitled (Sun Box), c. 1958 Wood and glass box construction with wood, metal, glass, paint, and printed paper collage 10 1/2 x 15 x 5 in. (26.7 x 38.1 x 12.7 cm) Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY © 2023 The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Exhibition Support

Miniature Worlds is made possible in part by Agnes Gund. Additional support has been provided by The Japan Foundation, New York.

Credits

Yayoi Kusama, Bird, 1980. Collage, pastel, gouache, and ink on paper, 25 7/8 x 20 1/8 in. (65.7 x 51.1 cm), Omer Tiroche Gallery

Also on view

The Rothko Room

John O'Reilly: Studio Visitations