John Cage Visual Art: To Sober and Quiet the Mind (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Years ago, before we had a remote control for our television at home, my husband, Tom Marioni, used a long bamboo pole to reach the..." (more)
Key Phrases: Crown Point Press, New York, John Cage (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

“What I’m proposing to myself and to other people, is what I often call the tourist attitude—that you act as though you’ve never been there before. So that you’re not supposed to know anything about it. If you really get down to brass tacks, we have never been anywhere before.” –John Cage, 1992

John Cage advocated paying attention to the world around us, and “to the life that we are so excellently living.” He is mainly known as a composer who affected the course of music in our time, but he also lectured, wrote commentary and poetry, and made prints, watercolors, and drawings. He died in 1992, but his work continues to affect people conscious of shaping their own lives. Cage worked at Crown Point Press, publisher of fine art prints, every year from 1978 until his death. During that period he produced 27 groups of prints, mostly etchings, totalling 667 individually composed works of art. Kathan Brown worked with Cage on these prints that make up the largest and most sustained aspect of his visual art. In this book, she speaks from her own experience about how he worked. The many illustrations make it easy to see what she is talking about, and she often uses Cage's own words to describe particular works or reflect upon the nature of his art.

From the Publisher

The book is in three parts. The first is a text written from Brown’s own experience. In it, she often uses Cage’s words to describe particular works, and she reflects upon how the art can be used in the world. The second is a detailed section that illustrates “scores” that Cage created for his printers, and explains his use of what he called “chance operations” in making his work. The third section of the book is pictorial. Cage told Brown that the purpose of art is “to sober and quiet the mind, so that it is in accord with what happens.” The book contains many fine reproductions arranged to invite contemplation, including two complete sets of prints, Dereau, the first among his early visual art works and HV2, done at the end of his life.
Hardcover, 9 x 7."
144 pages with 116 color images.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Crown Point Press; 1st edition (March 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891300164
• ISBN-13: 978-1891300165
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #565,647 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterful overview of Cage's visual art., November 30, 2007

By	Tom Furgas (Youngstown, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very beautiful book, with the focus on Cage's print works. One will also find examples of Cage's drawings and watercolors, but they are included here more as a referance point to the print works. The works focussed on in this book are a wonderful selection of his prints, all done at the print studio of Kathyn Brown. The layout of the book, and the detail of description of Cage's working methods, are all topnotch. The quality of the printing and binding of the book is excellent also. Any fan of Cage, and of contemporary print editions, will definitely want to have this beautiful volume in their library.