John Cage

John Cage (1912–1992) was an American composer, music theorist, and artist whose experimental approach profoundly influenced twentieth-century music and the broader field of the avant-garde. Known for his use of chance operations and indeterminacy, Cage became a central figure in experimental music. Ellsworth Kelly met Cage in Paris in 1950, when the composer was staying at the Hôtel Bourgogne, where Kelly was also living and working. That summer, Cage and the dancer-choreographer Merce Cunningham visited Kelly’s studio to see his paintings. The two later corresponded, and in his letters Cage mentioned an “interesting young painter” he knew—Robert Rauschenberg—whom Kelly later sought out after returning to New York.