Joseph Cornell: Who Are Ye?

My friend Melinda sent me the following email after reading my post on Joseph Cornell which I found so fascinating I have to share it with you all:

...just caught myself up on your goings on. JOSEPH CORNELL IS MY FAVORITE!!! yay! i've been reading a biography of him for the last several months. it's real dense + real sad so it's slow going. some fun facts about him:

--never had penetrative sex. maybe oral sex once.

--spent most of his life living with his domineering mother + his brother robert, who had cerebral palsy at a time when people didn't really know how to handle such conditions. he was robert's primary caretaker.

--hated selling his work

--intensely voyeuristic bordering on creepy

--he also made short films!! they sound really amazing + i'd love to see them.

the art institute in chicago has a big collection of his stuff. a lot of pieces from his aviary period, which was right before the night sky stuff. i thought it was interesting to read about how the guy who donated that stuff to the art institute had to creep around + collect the boxes from dealers behind cornell's back. joey didn't want anybody to have too much.

Wow, what a weird-o, how intriguing. I must learn more...I'll keep you posted, dear readers but in the mean time, here are some basic stats:

Born: 24-Dec-1903
Birthplace: Nyack, NY
Died: 29-Dec-1972
Location of death: Queens, NY
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Religion: Christian Science
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Sculptor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Exponent of Assemblage