John Cage was born on 5 September 1912 in Los Angeles. In the course of his prolific career as a composer, musicologist, artist and sound pioneer, he worked closely with Marcel Duchamp, whom he acknowledged as a master. When the two of them met at Peggy Guggenheim’s house in Venice, Cage said: ‘You were using chance operations the year I was born.’ It was thanks to Duchamp that Cage discovered Cadaqués, where he spent several summers. In July 1982, he gave a legendary concert in which he performed, with a pianist, a version of Études australes, a piece composed over a map of the stars. Also at that time, he held an exhibition of drawings and prints at Galeria Cadaqués, a gallery owned by the architect Lanfranco Bombelli, and gave a lecture attended by Carles Santos and Josep Mestres-Quadrenys, among others. In a preparatory telegram sent to Bombelli, Cage wrote: ‘I am between the devil and the deep blue sea. I spend too much time away from home, and so am inclined now not to accept further invitations. This year I am particularly committed. However, I love to be in Cadaques.’ Proof of his attachment to this small town on the Catalan coast are the two collages Cadaqués 1 and Cadaqués 2, now in the MACBA Collection.

WORKS IN THE COLLECTION BY JOHN CAGE

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