Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel, Plexigram III
Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel, Plexigram III
Artist
John Cage
(1912 - 1992)
Date1969
MediumScreen print on Plexiglas
Dimensionseach panel: 14 x 20 x 1/8 in. (35.6 x 50.8 x 0.3 cm)
base: 3/4 × 24 × 14 1/2 in. (1.9 × 61 × 36.8 cm)
base: 3/4 × 24 × 14 1/2 in. (1.9 × 61 × 36.8 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Gift of Carl and Elizabeth Solway, 2011.19.3
Signedfront edge of base, l.r.: [incised signature of John Cage]
on base: [incised signature of Calvin Sumsion]
Accession number
2011.19.3
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextComposer and visual artist John Cage created this work to honor his friend Marcel Duchamp, the French-American artist who died in 1968. The title derives from a conversation the artist had with Jasper Johns. When prompted to respond to Duchamp’s death, Johns replied that he didn’t want to say anything. Cage is similarly known for incorporating silence in his musical compositions.
Like Duchamp, Cage embraced chance outcomes in this work: the placement of imagery was determined by the Chinese I Ching system, and the panels are arranged in a different order each time the work is shown. American art of the 1960s increasingly featured text as advertising culture infiltrated the art world.
Markingsrear edge of base: [Hollander Workshop stamp]
See Also/See Also