Cage II
Artist
Walter De Maria
(Albany, CA, 10/1/1935 - 7/25/2013, Los Angeles, CA)
Title
Cage II
Creation Date
1965
Century
mid-20th century
Dimensions
85 1/4 x 14 1/4 x 14 1/4 in. (216.5 x 36.2 x 36.2 cm)
Classification
Unidentified
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
stainless steel
Credit Line
Museum of Modern Art, New York. gift of Agnes Gund and Lily Auchincloss, 210.1993, Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, New York, © 2016 Estate of Walter De Maria
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
"Cage II" is the final form of Walter De Maria’s series of works representing John Cage. See a reproduction of the first version of the sculpture, "Statue of John Cage" (1961), and related drawings, "Portrait of John Cage" and "Portrait of the School of Cage, Caged" (1962), displayed nearby. In form and content De Maria’s "Cage II" can be interpreted as obliquely referencing the composer’s most influential and radical musical composition, "4’33”" (1952), in which the performers remain silent for the duration of the work’s four minutes and thirty-three seconds. De Maria’s sculpture provides a formal visual analogue to Cage’s composition; the structure resembles the underlying graph of a musical score, turned on its side. Like Cage’s original score, presented on conventional music paper with staffs and bar lines but no notes, De Maria’s barred structure is seemingly devoid of content. Just as Cage’s "4’33"”provides a context that provokes the audience to attend to silence, De Maria’s "Cage" encourages the viewer to contemplate an empty space.
