Soap Bubble Set

Joseph Cornell, Soap Bubble Set, 1949-1950, glasses, pipes, printed paper, and other media in a glass-fronted wood box, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 1999.91
Joseph Cornell, Soap Bubble Set, 1949-1950, glasses, pipes, printed paper, and other media in a glass-fronted wood box, 14 3418 344 14 in. (37.547.610.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum, 1999.91

Artwork Details

Title
Soap Bubble Set
Date
1949-1950
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
14 3418 344 14 in. (37.547.610.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the American Art Forum
Mediums Description
glasses, pipes, printed paper, and other media in a glass-fronted wood box
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — celestial
  • Still life — toy — ball
  • Object — other — dish
  • Object — written matter — map
  • Object — other — smoking material
Object Number
1999.91

Artwork Description

Soap Bubble Set offers a theatrical glimpse into the cosmos. Situated on Earth, the viewer observes the mountains and valleys of the moon, first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. The glasses, holding specimens of land and sea, embody the gravitational pull of the earth, perhaps in relation to the lunar influence on tides. The freely moving sphere rolls between the opposing forces while cutouts of shells, stars, and other references to the natural world float above. Following Edwin Hubble's confirmation of the rapidly expanding universe in 1929, the metaphor of a swelling soap bubble proliferated in the popular press. For Cornell, who had a long-standing interest in astronomy and stayed abreast of breaking news, this metaphor would have resonated with his own memories of blowing bubbles with clay pipes as a child and the wonder of their creation. Cornell's series of Soap Bubble Sets, sometimes called planetariums, is a decade-long rumination on the great astronomers of the past and the contemporary discoveries and innovations in space technology.

Works by this artist (23 items)

Claggett Wilson, Salad--A Cleaned-Up Machine--Gun Nest, Bois de Belleau, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.8
Salad – A Cleaned-Up Machine – Gun Nest, Bois de Belleau
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view
Claggett Wilson, Bacchus Survivor--In the Ruined Garden of an Old Chateau in the Champagne Country There Remains, Triumphant, the Statue of Bacchus, Chipped and Scarred but Still Laughing as He Squeezes the Stone Grapes into the Stone Cup, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.22
Bacchus Survivor – In the Ruined Garden of an Old Chateau in…
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view
Claggett Wilson, Early June Morning, Bois de Belleau--Sniper Who Had Been Potted During the Night, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.7
Early June Morning, Bois de Belleau – Sniper Who Had Been…
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view
Claggett Wilson, Stragglers--French Wounded in the Retreat of Chateau-Thierry, ca. 1919, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1981.163.3
Stragglers – French Wounded in the Retreat of Chateau-Thierry
Dateca. 1919
watercolor and pencil on paperboard
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Ben Cunningham, Resources of the Soil (Mural Study, Ukiah, California Post Office), ca. 1938, tempera, pencil and watercolor on illustration board, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1974.28.127
Resources of the Soil (Mural Study, Ukiah, California Post…
Dateca. 1938
tempera, pencil and watercolor on illustration board
Not on view
As Nantucket Harbor Looked in the Hey-Day
Dateca. 1959
watercolor, tempera, and pencil on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Seated Female Nude, ca. 1939-1940, recto: watercolor and pencil on paper
verso: watercolor, pencil, and tempera on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.214R-V
Seated Female Nude
Dateca. 1939-1940
recto: watercolor and pencil on paper verso: watercolor, pencil, and tempera on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, Houses and Figures, Denmark, ca. 1930-1935, tempera and watercolor with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.765R-V
Houses and Figures, Denmark
Dateca. 1930-1935
tempera and watercolor with pencil on paper
Not on view