John Cage
- Introduction
- John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer, music theorist, artist, and philosopher. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, which is performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title. The content of the composition is not "four minutes and 33 seconds of silence," as is often assumed, but rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance. The work's challenge to assumed definitions about musicianship and musical experience made it a popular and controversial topic both in musicology and the broader aesthetics of art and performance. Cage was also a pioneer of the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by objects placed between or on its strings or hammers), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces. The best known of these is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933–35), both known for their radical innovations in music, but Cage's major influences lay in various East and South Asian cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of aleatoric or chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text decision-making tool, which uses chance operations to suggest answers to questions one may pose, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life – not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living".
- Wikidata
- Q180727
- Introduction
- Originally trained as an abstract painter, Cage abandoned the medium in favor of composition, which he studied with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. In the 1940s, becoming interested in expanding the range of percussive instruments, he developed the "prepared piano", composing works for a piano with various objects placed between the strings. After studying Zen Buddhism, Cage began to work toward a new theory of composition, focusing on removing intention and personal taste, with attention paid to the process and the element of chance. Regarding silence on equal terms as structured sound and noise, in 1952 Cage produced 4'33", a composition in which no sound is made. Cage was a strong influence and a collaborator with many visual artists.
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Composer, Writer, Philosopher, Painter, Lecturer, Sculptor, Theorist
- Names
- John Cage, Jr. John Milton Cage, Dzhon Keĭdzh, J. C., Jon Kēji
- Ulan
- 500092036
Exhibitions
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Degree Zero: Drawing at Midcentury
Through Feb 6
MoMA
Last chance -
Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done
Sep 16, 2018–Feb 3, 2019
MoMA
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Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959–1989
Nov 13, 2017–Apr 8, 2018
MoMA
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Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends
May 21–Sep 17, 2017
MoMA
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Yoko Ono: One Woman Show,
1960–1971 May 17–Sep 7, 2015
MoMA
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John Cage has
30 exhibitionsonline.
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John Cage 4'33" (In Proportional Notation) 1952/1953
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John Cage Page 18, Solo for Piano, from Concert for Piano and Orchestra 1958
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John Cage, David Tudor Indeterminacy: New Aspect of Form in Instrumental and Electronic Music 1959
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John Cage The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage 1959
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John Cage Solo for Voice 2 1960
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John Cage A Valentine out of Season 1944/1960
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John Cage Music for Carillon, # 4, Page 2 (1961)
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John Cage Music for Carillon, # 4, Page 3 1961
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Various Artists, George Brecht, Claus Bremer, Earle Brown, Joseph Byrd, John Cage, Anthony Cox, David Degener, Walter De Maria, Ding Dong, Henry Flynt, Simone Forti, Dick Higgins, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Terry Jennings, Ray Johnson, Jackson Mac Low, Richard Maxfield, Robert Morris, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Terry Riley, Dieter Roth, James Waring, Emmett Williams, Christian Wolff, La Monte Young An Anthology 1962
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George Brecht, Claus Bremer, Earle Brown, Joseph Byrd, John Cage, Anthony Cox, David Degener, Walter De Maria, Henry Flynt, Yoko Ono, Dick Higgins, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Terry Jennings, Dennis Johnson, Ding Dong, Ray Johnson, Jackson Mac Low, Richard Maxfield, Robert Morris, Simone Forti An Anthology 1963
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George Brecht, Claus Bremer, Earle Brown, Joseph Byrd, John Cage, Anthony Cox, David Degener, Walter De Maria, Henry Flynt, Yoko Ono, Dick Higgins, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Terry Jennings, Dennis Johnson, Ding Dong, Ray Johnson, Jackson Mac Low, Richard Maxfield, Robert Morris, Simone Forti, Nam June Paik, Terry Riley, Dieter Roth, James Waring, Emmett Williams, Christian Wolff, La Monte Young An Anthology of chance operations, concept art, anti art, indeterminacy, plans of action, diagrams, music, dance constructions, improvization, meaningless work, natural disasters, compositions, mathematics, essays, poetry 1963
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John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1946-48) 1965
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John Cage, David Tudor Variations IV 1966
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John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Henri Pousseur, Various Artists New Electronic Music From Leaders of the Avant-Garde 1967
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Arman, Paul Bergtold, John Cage, Hollis Frampton, Roy Lichtenstein, Lil Picard, Mimmo Rotella, Robert Stanley, Robert Watts, Princess Winifred, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Various Artists S.M.S. No. 4 1968
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John Cage Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse) continued 1968 from _S.M.S. No. 4
_ 1968 -
John Cage Sounds of Venice 1959/1968
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John Cage, Calvin Sumsion Not Wanting to say anything about Marcel, Lithograph B 1969
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John Cage Not Wanting to say anything about Marcel (with Plexigram II) 1969
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John Cage Busoni Chart for HPSCHD (with Lejaren Hiller) 1969
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John Cage Untitled (640 numbers between 1 and 16) 1969
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John Cage Untitled (640 numbers between 1 and 21) 1969
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John Cage, Lejaren Hiller, Ben Johnston, Various Artists HPSCHD / String Quartet No. 2 1969
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John Cage, Lois Long Mushroom Book 1972 (Prints executed August 1971 - May 1972)
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John Cage I from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage II from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage III from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage _IV _ from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage VII from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage VII from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage IX from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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John Cage X from Mushroom Book 1972. (Print executed 1971-1972).
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Various Artists, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Bruce Nauman, Robert Morris, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage Merce Cunningham Portfolio 1974–75, published 1975
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John Cage 30 Drawings by Thoreau from Merce Cunningham Portfolio 1974, published 1975
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John Cage Untitled (letter/drawing) 1975
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John Cage John Cage 1978
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John Cage No. 30 from Changes + Disappearances 1982
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John Cage Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage R(superscript 2, subscript 3) from the series Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage 2R + 13 x 14 from the series Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage R(superscript 2, subscript 2) from the series Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage R(superscript 2, subscript 1) from the series Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage R(superscript 3) from the series Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage (R(superscript 3)) from the series Where R=Ryoanji 1983
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John Cage, Lois Long Mud Book 1983
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John Cage Dramatic Fire 1989
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Eric Andersen, Joseph Beuys, John Cage, Philip Corner, Robert Filliou, Ken Friedman, Juan Hidalgo, Dick Higgins, Milan Knížák, Alison Knowles, Walter Marchetti, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Ben Vautier, Wolf Vostell, Robert Watts, Emmett Williams, La Monte Young, Various Artists Fluxus Anthology 1989
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John Cage River Rock and Smoke 4/13/90 #5 1990
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