Joseph Cornell Collage Medici Slot Machine

Joseph Cornell - Sculpture and Collage. Sculpture and Collage. Cornell's most characteristic art works were boxed assemblages created from found objects. Such as the famous Medici Slot Machine boxes, are interactive and are meant to be handled. Like Kurt Schwitters, Cornell. The exhibition thus emphasizes a diverse set of categories — the thematic groups into which Cornell put his work: Hotels, Observatories Aviaries, Soap Bubble Sets, Medici Slot Machines — mediated.

Collage art represents a more distinct method of artistic creation, but it does not fail to impress art collectors worldwide, who have supported their growing interest with impressive sales. The following are a few of the notable sales in recent years, each representing a slightly different era, and unique approaches by the artists whose works have brought impressive prices.

Collage Artists

Kurt Schwitters

“Bumpy” sold $23.8 million in June 2014, sold by Christie’s in London. One of the founding artists of Collage Art, Schwitters was known to scour the Berlin streets for anything suitable (in his mind) for creating art which he felt could unify all types of artistic theories.

Juan Gris

“La table de misicien” $31.8 million, sold by Christie’s in London in February 2018. This Spanish painter was said to have idolized Picasso and created his own version of collage works, distinguishing himself with a more graphic, patterned look and bright, bold colors.

Joseph Cornell Collage Medici Slot Machine

Joseph Cornell

“Medici Slot Machine” $7.8 million, sold by Christie’s in NY in May 2014. Cornell was famous for the collage works he created in signature wooden boxes.

Lee Krasner

“Shattered Light” $5.5 million, sold by Christie’s in NY November 2017. Wife of famous American painter Jackson Pollack, Krasner was a genius of the “all-over” technique, covering the entire canvas in color.

Chris Ofili

Chris Ofili’s controversial “Holy Virgin of Mary”, $4.6 million, was sold by Christie’s in London in June 2015. The work has had a storied history, having offended a multitude of people outside of the art community and once owned by prominent collector Charles Saatchi.

Mark Bradford

“Helter Skelter”, $10.4 million at Phillips London in March 2018. This was the highest selling auctioned art by a living African American artist at the time, and interestingly was offered for sale by tennis legend John McEnroe.

Joseph Cornell Collage Medici Slot Machine

Liu Guosong

Slot

“Blue Moon Landscape” was an outstanding example of increased movement in the Asian art market, selling for $625,000 in a Sotheby’s October 2016 Hong Kong auction.

Collage Art as an Investment

These top sellers are only a small portion of the growing number of collage works available to collectors. With the growth of styles, techniques, and materials used in collage works, it will only grow in popularity among contemporary and modern art collectors.

Sybaris is dedicated to finding unique works of art from locations around the world to share examples of culturally rich heritages to our discriminating members. Collage art comes in a variety of sizes and styles, offering collectors the opportunity to find the right piece for their needs. Let us help you discover outstanding collage art pieces to suit your taste and budget.

joseph Cornell, Medici Slot Machine, 1942. Assemblage.

Joseph Cornell Collage Medici Slot Machine Jackpots

The Medici Slot Machine is perhaps Cornell’s most famous example of Assemblage art. It has been created by putting together found objects to create a three dimensional composition. His work often evoked surrealist traits. In this instance the focus is of Piero de Medici of Florence, a Renaissance Prince. The Medici Slot Machine had movable parts and Cornell did this purposefully to tempt the onlooker into interacting with the piece. There are lots of little portraits of both the Prince and others along the sides. They sort of mimic movie stills. At the bottom there is a compass. This arrangement of seemingly unconnected pieces forms a dream like image, both mysterious and fantastical.

Sources

Mary Ann Caws, Joseph Cornell’s Theater of the Mind: Selected Diaries, Letters, and Files (New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000)

Joseph Cornell Collage Medici Slot Machine Machines

Catherine Corman, Joseph Cornell’s Dreams (Cambridge: Exact Change, 2007)