{"secondaryobjectnumber":"","periodterms":[],"creditline":"Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund","caption":"Josiah McElheny (born 1966, Boston, MA; active Brooklyn, NY), A Twilight Labyrinth (Alchemy), 2019. Low-iron mirror; two-way mirror; electric light; hand-blown, polished, and mirrored glass; 61 × 95.2 × 61 cm, 58.1 × 91.8 × 57.8 cm (box). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2020-14)","cultureterms":[{"id":2038492,"culture":"American"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2038492,"term":"American","aatid":300107956,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2166886,"term":"mixed media","aatid":300163347,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2072114,"term":"mirrors","aatid":300037682,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2072114,"term":"mirrors","aatid":300037682,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2072851,"term":"vessels (containers)","aatid":300193015,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2054791,"term":"sculpture","aatid":300047090,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2049409,"term":"glassware","aatid":300010898,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2072114,"term":"mirrors","aatid":300037682,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2098810,"term":"light","aatid":300056024,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"58.10"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"91.75"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"57.78"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"60.95"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"95.24"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"60.95"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"2020-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[{"id":21885,"displayname":"Josiah McElheny","displaydate":"born 1966, Boston, MA; active Brooklyn, NY","datebegin":1966,"dateend":0,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Josiah McElheny, born 1966, Boston, MA; active Brooklyn, NY","displayorder":1}],"datecomputed":2019,"signed":null,"restrictions":"Restricted","classification":"Mixed Media","packages":[{"packageid":214020,"name":"Gallery_17-CrossCollections"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":216463,"name":"image_descriptions_newacquisitions_2020"},{"packageid":216712,"name":"2022_HUM434/VIS434/ECS434/ART404_12_09"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2054791,"classification":"sculpture"},{"id":2166886,"classification":"mixed media"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/TC2019-143_VEN"],"displaytitle":"A Twilight Labyrinth (Alchemy)","displayculture":null,"displaymaker":"Josiah McElheny, born 1966, Boston, MA; active Brooklyn, NY","captionhtml":"Josiah McElheny (born 1966, Boston, MA; active Brooklyn, NY), <i>A Twilight Labyrinth (Alchemy)</i>, 2019. Low-iron mirror; two-way mirror; electric light; hand-blown, polished, and mirrored glass; 61 × 95.2 × 61 cm, 58.1 × 91.8 × 57.8 cm (box). Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2020-14)","displaydate":"2019","medium":"Low-iron mirror; two-way mirror; electric light; hand-blown, polished, and mirrored glass","media":[{"id":222492,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/TC2019-143_VEN","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor supplied image"},{"id":239455,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_12","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239456,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_11","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239457,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_10","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239458,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_9","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239459,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_8","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239460,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_7","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239461,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_5","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239462,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_6","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239463,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_4","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239464,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_3","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239465,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_1","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"},{"id":239466,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2020-14_VEN_2","isprimary":0,"rank":0,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Vendor Image"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":false,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"Modern and Contemporary Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199324,"term":"Art Since 1945","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199325,"term":"North American Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","dateend":2019,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"A Twilight Labyrinth (Alchemy)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"© Josiah McElheny","objectnumber":"2020-14","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"A series of handblown glass vessels occupies the mirrored interior of a box to create an illusion of deep and expansive space. Whereas still life allowed artists to demonstrate their artistic mastery over objects by pictorially describing them to viewers, as  in the paintings by Chardin nearby, McElheny’s wondrous mirror boxes allow objects to reproduce themselves through reflection. By engineering his installations to test the limits of viewers’ visual facul- ties, McElheny innovates on the modernist use  of still life to investigate perceptual ambiguity, as  found in the painting by Morandi that hangs nearby.  As McElheny has stated, “If the reflective can be described as a medium, it is one in which the viewer becomes the author, because without the viewer it is impossible to discern the something, or even the nothing, that is there.”\n","remarks":"CRSS_17_WLA - Day 1 Cataloguing"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2020.","remarks":null}],"datebegin":2019,"sortnumber":"2020   14","published_date":"2026-03-31 03:31:29.368612","objectid":137199,"dimensions":"61 × 95.2 × 61 cm (24 × 37 1/2 × 24 in.)\r\nbox: 58.1 × 91.8 × 57.8 cm (22 7/8 × 36 1/8 × 22 3/4 in.)","on_view":true}