Drawing for Changes and Disappearances No. 33
1979-1982
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 48.3 x 66 cm (19 x 26 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kathan Brown
Accession Number
2001.142.24
Art Historical Context
John Cage's *Drawing for Changes and Disances No. 33* (1979–1982) is a captivating graphite drawing on wove, measuring 48.3 x 66 cm. Created during a period when the avant-garde composer turned his innovative spirit to visual art, this work belongs to a series that embodies Cage's fascination with chance and impermanence. Known for revolutionizing music through indeterminacy—inspired by Zen philosophy and the I Ching—Cage applied similar principles here, likely generating marks through unpredictable processes rather than deliberate controlThe medium of graphite on smooth wove paper allows for ...
About the Artist
John Cage
John Cage (1912–1992), born in Los Angeles to inventor John Milton Cage Sr. and journalist Lucretia "Crete" Harvey, an amateur artist, initially explored painting during travels in Europe in 1930 but soon pivoted to music. His early visual pursuits were sparsely documented, yielding no surviving works, as feedback favored his compositions. He married artist Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, a bookbind...