Changes and Disappearances No. 32
1982
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color engraving, drypoint, and photo-etching on Twinrocker Gray-Green laid paper
Dimensions
image: 28.6 x 55.3 cm (11 1/4 x 21 3/4 in.) sheet: 28.6 x 55.3 cm (11 1/4 x 21 3/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kathan Brown
Accession Number
1996.93.35
Art Historical Context
"Changes and Disappearances. 32" (1982) is a captivating print by John Cage, the pioneering avant-garde composer renowned for his experimental music and of chance operations. Created during Cage's prolific late-career foray into visual art, this work belongs to a series that explores impermanence and transformation—themes echoing his philosophical interests in Zen Buddhism and Marcel Duchamp. Produced in collaboration with master printmakers at Crown Point Press, it Cage's innovative crossover from sound to image, where randomness guided creation much like his silent composition *4'33"* challe...
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...