Traditional Surrealism Art Review

Description: This untitled piece of a Medici princess was created by Joseph Cornell. The piece shows a portrait of a young princess surrounded by dozens of smaller pictures of herself and other people in her family. This piece is contains little marbles, or round balls. There are also little tiles with animals depicted on them and other tiles with numbers printed on them. The whole piece is encased in a wooden frame. There are lines that are crossing directly over the princess's face drawing the viewers eye directly to her face first. There is also vertical strips of what looks to be a map on either side of the girl's portrait.

Analysis: There are many implied lines shown here in the flow of the smaller pictures coming down on either side of the girl's portrait. There are also actual lines crossing over the girl's face and framing her on either side through the map fragments. The surrounding background of the piece is a collage of multiple pictures and objects that have give a freedom to an otherwise formal portrait.

Interpretation: This piece seems to show the girl not just in her formal role of the Medici Princess but also as a little girl who likes animals, toys, has been schooled (the use of the numbers) and loves her family. The lines that cross over her face take the viewers directly to her eyes, which are the most expressive feature on the human body, to show her in a more real way.

Judgment: This piece is very successfully done. I love the way that the artist has taken the formal portrait and turned it into a more relaxed piece. The combination of the three dimensional pieces and the two dimensional pictures create a wonderful tension through out the artwork with the use of texture and color value.