Dovecote

During this scary time, Joseph Cornell’s Dovecote is like a safe shelter for one to take comfort in. Made in about 1952, it was a gift for Joseph’s brother, Robert, who had cerebral palsy and was hugely influential in Joseph’s life; Joseph often looked to Robert for inspiration and approval. As we shelter in place in our homes, we too look to our loved ones and even our pets for inspiration and respite. It is hard for us to imagine how the world will be changed when this passes. Will we be able to hug a beloved colleague or friend? Will we still travel to other museums to see artworks and experience them in person?

For me, Dovecote evokes protection within its small, white, and crusted compartments. A traditional dovecote is essentially an apartment building for birds, with spaces for each dove or pigeon to nest. I’m able to lose myself for a moment in between the painted wooden beads and spelling blocks. The colors of the objects and the empty spaces are ever so carefully considered and placed, like words in a poem. There is a rhythm and cadence to the visual arrangement. Clothed in a small, aged, wooden box, this piece also brings joy, music, and comfort to mind in an unassuming way. It reminds me that it is possible to find joy and escape in the ordinary objects around us in our homes.

Cornell lived through the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, World War II, and the Cold War. Would the crisis we are experiencing now have seemed any more tragic to him than those events? He used the safety and solitude of his basement, where he made his art, to hide from those world events, from relationships and responsibilities. The basement workshop on Utopia Parkway in Flushing, Queens, was his kingdom, his magical space where he could commune with his work and enter into the lives of his box constructions. Here, he created the world as he preferred to see it.