Joseph Cornell

An art monk, Cornell was determined to repent, for what sin he was not quite sure. Of one thing, however, he was sure: he was drawn to a vision of chasteness for himself, a vision that governed the arc of his life as well as his work. Paradoxically, the same impulse that condemned him to lacerating aloneness would lead to romantic rapture in his art.
-Debora Solomon, Utopia Parkway The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell