WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›John Cage

John Cage

Artist

WA-00002953

Performance Art

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

220

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ180727

MoMA

Field Verification (7 fields)

0 cross-verified · 7 single-source

LocationGallery Hauser + Gallery Generic+1· 80%
Death yearGallery· 60%
NationalityGallery· 60%
Primary mediumGallery· 60%
BiographyGallery· 60%
Profile imageGallery· 60%
Birth yearGallery· 60%

Source Registry (3)

James-Cohanhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/john-cage
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Hauser-Wirthhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/john-cage
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/912
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

No biography available for John Cage yet.

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Performance Art

Medium

—

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (71)

WattsOS

Where R = Ryoanji R/12 - 12/90

1990 · Graphite pencil on paper

Sheet: 10 1/8 × 19 1/4 in. (25.7 × 48.9 cm) Image: 10 1/8 × 19 1/4 in. (25.7 × 48.9 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

River Rock and Smoke 4/13/90 #5

1990 · Soot and watercolor on paper

52 1/2 x 15" (133.3 x 38.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Wild Edible Drawing # 6

1990 · Handmade paper of mulberry, burdock, hibiscus stems, barley, hijiki, and clover

17 x 12" (43 x 30.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Wild Edible Drawing # 8

1990 · Handmade paper of milkweed, cattail, saffron, pokeweed, and hijiki

17 x 12" (43 x 30.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Dramatic Fire

1989 · Aquatint and embossing on smoked paper

composition (irreg.): 18 3/16 × 22 7/8" (46.2 × 58.1 cm); sheet: 18 1/8 × 22 7/8" (46 × 58.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

10 Stones

1989 · color spit bite and sugar lift aquatint on smoked paper

Platemark: 20.3 x 36.5 cm (8 x 14 3/8 in.); Sheet: 46.3 x 58.3 cm (18 1/4 x 22 15/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

"Where R = Ryoanji 10R/6 – 5–87"

1987 · Graphite on cream laid paper

25.4 × 48.3 cm (10 × 19 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

R(superscript 2, subscript 3) from the series Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Drypoint

sheet: 9 1/16 x 23 5/16" (23 x 59.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

R(superscript 2, subscript 1) from the series Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Drypoint

sheet: 9 1/16 x 23 5/16" (23 x 59.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

R(superscript 2, subscript 2) from the series Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Drypoint

sheet: 9 1/16 x 23 5/16" (23 x 59.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Series of four drypoints

plate (each approx.): 6 7/8 x 21 1/16" (17.5 x 53.5 cm); sheet (each approx.): 9 1/16 x 23 5/16" (23 x 59.2cm)

Museum of Modern Art

2R + 13 x 14 from the series Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Drypoint

sheet: 9 1/16 x 23 5/16" (23 x 59.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

R(superscript 3) from the series Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Drypoint

plate: 7 5/16 x 21 1/8" (18.6 x 53.6 cm); sheet: 9 3/16 x 23 3/8" (23.4 x 59.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

(R(superscript 3)) from the series Where R=Ryoanji

1983 · Drypoint

plate: 7 1/16 x 21 1/8" (18 x 53.6 cm); sheet: 9 1/8 x 23 1/8" (23.2 x 58.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

R 2/3 (where R=Ryoanji)

1983 · Drypoint

Sheet: 9 3/16 × 23 1/2 in. (23.3 × 59.7 cm) Plate: 6 15/16 × 21 1/8 in. (17.6 × 53.6 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

2R + 13·14 (where R=Ryoanji)

1983 · Drypoint

Sheet: 9 3/16 × 23 1/4 in. (23.3 × 59.1 cm) Plate: 6 15/16 × 21 1/8 in. (17.6 × 53.6 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

R 2/2 (where R=Ryoanji)

1983 · Drypoint

Sheet: 9 3/16 × 23 1/4 in. (23.3 × 59 cm) Plate: 6 15/16 × 21 1/8 in. (17.6 × 53.6 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

R 2/1 (where R=Ryoanji)

1983 · Drypoint

Sheet: 9 3/16 × 23 1/4 in. (23.3 × 59 cm) Plate: 6 15/16 × 21 1/8 in. (17.6 × 53.6 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

No. 30 from Changes + Disappearances

1982 · Drypoint, engraving, and aquatint

composition and sheet: 11 9/16 x 21 5/16" (29.3 x 54.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

John Cage

1978 · 12-inch vinyl record

cover: 12 3/8 × 12 3/8" (31.4 × 31.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (letter/drawing)

1975 · Typewriting on paper

11 x 8 1/2" (28 x 21.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

30 Drawings by Thoreau from Merce Cunningham Portfolio

1974 · Screenprint from a portfolio of three screenprints, one lithograph, one lithograph and screenprint, one embossing with stencil, and one die-cut

composition (irreg.): 28 15/16 x 19 1/2" (73.5 x 49.5 cm); sheet (irreg.): 30 1/4 x 20 1/4" (76.8 x 51.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

I from Mushroom Book

1972 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 22 3/16 x 15" (56.4 x 38.1 cm); page: 22 1/16 x 15 1/16" (56 x 38.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

II from Mushroom Book

1972 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 22 x 15 1/16" (55.9 x 38.3 cm); page: 22 1/16 x 15 1/16" (56 x 38.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 71 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

71 published of 158 catalogued · 87 with image

MoMA
59 publishedof 146 catalogued84 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
4 published
The Met
4 published
Art Institute Chicago
3 published3 img
Whitney
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 4)

4 entries · 1 sources

10 Stones
1989 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse) continued 1968
1968 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel, Lithograph B
1969 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Plexigram VI: Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel
1969 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

62 assets

Artsy

Wikimedia Commons

Opdracht GPD componist John Cage , kop, Bestanddeelnr 934 2727

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

John Cage and Michael Bach in Assissi 1992

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Commons (Instagram fallback)

View all 62 media items →

Relationships

Movements1

Performance Art

Collections5

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art Phillips

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Auction house

Phillips

Background

Education

Los Angeles High School

Visual Arts · 1928

University of California, Los Angeles

Visual Arts

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

No exhibitions or timeline entries yet