About This Artwork
Joseph Cornell
American, 1903–1972
Untitled (Hôtel de l'Etoile)1954
Box construction
19 x 13 5/8 x 8 1/8 in.
Signed and inscribed on back (fig. 8): Gwendolina Gwendolina (in reverse) / Joseph Cornell (on paper label)
Lindy and Edwin Bergman Joseph Cornell Collection, 1982.1856
Medieval to Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Gallery 397
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
New York, Stable Gallery, Winter Night Sky by Joseph Cornell, 1955-56, no cat. nos., n. pag., as either Auriga I, Auriga II, or Auriga III.
The University of Chicago, Renaissance Society, But- Is It Art?, 1960, no. 7, as Hotel de l’Etoile.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, The Art of Assemblage, 1961-62, traveled to Dallas and San Francisco, no. 54 (ill.), as Night Skies: Auriga.
Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art, American Art since 1950, 1962, traveled to Waltham, Mass., no. 83, as Night Skies: Auriga (Boston only).
Seattle, World’s Fair, Art since 1950: American and International, 1962, no. 83, as Night Skies: Auriga.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Fifty Years of Modern Art: 1916-1966, 1966, no. 123 (ill.), as Night Skies: Auriga.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Twenty-seventh Annual Exhibition by the Society for Contemporary American Art, 1967, no cat.
The University of Chicago, The Bergman Gallery, Avant-Garde Chicago, 1968, no cat. nos., as Night Skies: Auriga.
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cornell in Chicago, 1973-74, no cat. nos., n. pag, as Night Skies Auriga (Hotel del’Etoile).
Kansas City, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Joseph Cornell, 1977, no cat.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Spirit of Surrealism, 1979, no. 104 (ill.), as Night Skies: Auriga.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Joseph Cornell, 1980-82, traveled to London, Düsseldorf, Florence, Paris, and Chicago, exh. cat., no. 210 (ill.), as Untitled (Hotel de l’Etoile; Night Skies: Auriga).
Florence, Joseph Cornell, 1981, traveled to London, Düsseldorf, New York, Paris, and Chicago, exh. cat., no. 59 as Senza titolo (Hotel de l’Etoile; Night Skies: Auriga).
Saint Louis, Washington University Gallery of Art, Exploring Jospeh Cornell’s Visual Poetry, 1982, no cat. nos., pp. 5, 24, and fig. 1, as Untitled (Hotel de l’Etoile; Night Skies: Auriga).
Publication History
Dore Ashton, “Art USA 1962,” Studio 163 (Mar. 1962), p. 93, fig. 15, as Night Skies: Auriga.
Dore Ashton, “The Art of Joseph Cornell,” One 2 (Jan. 1974), p. 15, as Night Skies.
Dore Ashton, A Joseph Cornell Album, 1974, p. 9, as Night Skies Auriga.
Alex Mogelon and Norman Laliberté, Art in Boxes, New York, 1974, p. 80, as Night Skies: Auriga.
Diane Waldman, Joseph Cornell, 1977, p. 28 and pl. 89, as Night Skies: Auriga.
Anne d’Harnoncourt, “The Cubist Cockatoo: A Preliminary Exploration of Joseph Cornell’s Homages to Juan Gris,” Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 74 (June 1978), p. 4 and fig. 4, as Night Skies: Auriga.
Deborah Soloman, Utopia Parkway: The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell, New York, 1997, p. 216, as Untitled (Hotel de l’Etoile: Night Skies, Auriga).
Ownership History
Sold by the artist to Lindy and Edwin Bergman, Chicago, 1958; on loan to the Art Institute, 1970-71; given to the Art Institute, 1982