dissertation menu
"In Northern Europe confessional boxes were being installed in churches in the early seventeenth century, and so the confessor found himself (or herself) conversing with an unseen presence, a voice. In the same way, the psychoanalyst's voice encourages a dialogue that is similar to the confessional in its emphasis on self-knowledge. When, in his diaries and dossiers, he addressed the unseen reader, or, in his letters, the unseen but known recipient, Cornell was using a similar technique of confessional search. When examining his writings and art works, one experiences an inescapable sense of something private being overheard, something not intended for public consumption. And yet the artists'surge towards self revelation is everywhere apparent. A relentless process of self-examination, at once confessional and secretive, underlies all Cornell's box constructions".

My research seems to suggest that the box format employed by Cornell was influenced by the early American folk-art tradition of the 'Shadow box' and the early museum cabinet called the 'Diorama'.

Jane Wodening's children's book 'From the Book of legends' (1989) explains the history of the 'Shadow Box':

"In Europe, where many of the people came from, there were always many beautiful things that men had made, paintings and cathedrals and statues. When the people came to America, they missed seeing those things, particularly the women missed it. So the women, lacking the materials to make those grand things of Europe, sometimes would make boxes in which they would put dried flowers and stuffed birds, pictures, seashells, mysterious words. And they could then look into these boxes and find a happiness that people have when they see a dream fulfiled by a pair of hands. Mostly it was country women who made these boxes and they knew very little about the history of art".

The 19th century 'Diorama' cabinet is said to be the precursor of the modern museum.

Artfaces (2003) describes the 'Diorama' as:

"A three-dimensional miniature or life-size scene in which figures, stuffed wildlife, or other objects are arranged in a naturalistic setting against a painted background."

'The box' (part 2)
Cornell was a deeply religious person and could have also been influenced by another 'box format' idea, that of the 'confessional box' originating from the 17th century. In the book 'Vision of Spiritual Order' Blair (1998, p.22) argues the point:
Early 'diorama' cabinet