Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with John Cage

Summary

(Electronic Resource)

Oral history interview with John Cage, 1974 May 2, Transcript
Collection ID:
AAA.cage74
Creators:
Callahan, Harry M.
Cummings, Paul
Dates:
1974 May 2
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
55 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of John Cage conducted 1974 May 2, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Cage speaks of his education; studying art and architecture in Europe; his paintings; his music teachers including Richard Buhlig, Henry Cowell, and Adolph Weiss; his lectures on modern art and music; his first wife, Xenia; teaching at the Cornish School, the Chicago Institute of Design, and Black Mountain College; taking chess lessons from Marcel Duchamp; Oriental philosophy; and "Silence," "Empty Words," and other compositions. He recalls Josef Albers, Bonnie Bird, Merce Cuningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Tobey, Alan Watts, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
John Cage (1912-1992) was a composer and printmaker from New York, New York.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Digital Content

(Electronic Resource)

Oral history interview with John Cage, 1974 May 2, Transcript

(Sound Recording)

Oral history interview with John Cage, 1974 May 2, Digital Sound Recording (Excerpt)

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 39 min.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Composers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Albers, Josef Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bird, Bonnie Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Buhlig, Richard, 1880-1952 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cunningham, Merce Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johns, Jasper, 1930- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tobey, Mark Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Watts, Alan, 1915-1973 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weiss, Adolph, 1891-1971 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
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