The artwork titled “Tilly Losch” was created by the artist Joseph Cornell in the year 1935. As an exemplar of the Surrealist movement, this installation work measures 10 inches in height, 9 1/4 inches in width, and 2 1/8 inches in depth. Cornell’s piece is a testimony to the innovative blend of commonplace objects with art to elicit sublime and dream-like atmospheres characteristic of Surrealism.
The artwork presents a box construction, serving as a miniature stage wherein the central figure—a cut-out image of a dancing woman—appears suspended, floating above a floor of abstract texture that may resemble a broom or perhaps a tuft of grass. The backdrop features a serene mountain range beneath a soft blue sky, which together with the arrangement suggests a sense of ethereal levitation. Thin, taut lines extend from the figure towards the upper portion of the box, enhancing the illusion of the dancer’s delicate buoyancy above the landscape. The juxtaposition of the human figure with the vast and unadorned nature scene gives rise to an evocative, poetic narrative that is open to the viewer’s interpretation, while the confinement within a box enforces a notion of preciousness and introspection, inviting onlookers to peer into a private, enigmatic world. Cornell’s meticulous craftsmanship and his ability to transmute found objects into a tableau vivant underscores the evocative potential of everyday materials when re-contextualized within an artistic framework.
