Xenia Cage

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Xenia Cage
Xenia with one of her wood-frame and rice-paper mobiles, circa 1943
Born
Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff

(1913-08-15)August 15, 1913
Juneau, Territory of Alaska, U.S.[1]
DiedSeptember 26, 1995(1995-09-26) (aged 82)
Known for
MovementSurrealism
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1935; div. 1945)​

Xenia Cage (born Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, August 15, 1913, Juneau, Alaska – September 26, 1995, New York[

surrealist sculptor.[2] Her work has been described as on the “cutting edge of surrealism in sculpture” for her time.[3]

Early life and education

Xenia Kashevaroff was one of six daughters of Andrei Petrovich Kashevaroff (1863–1940), a dean of Alaskan churches who also ministered at Jackson, California, and Seattle, before returning to Juneau, and Martha (née Bolshanin). She studied art at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.[4][5] While she was a student at Reed, she was the subject in many of Edward Weston's photographs.[6]

Career

Throughout her marriage to the musician and composer

Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York from 1968.[12][1]

Personal life

In 1935, she married John Cage; they divorced in 1945 when a ménage à trois with Merce Cunningham became a private affair between the two men. Cage and Cunningham were together until Cage's death.[13] In a 1992 interview, John noted that their subsequent relationship had "not been particularly friendly", and said that due to her "barby" wit, "if I telephone her or write to her, I take my life in my hands". A pregnancy during the marriage ended in an abortion.[14]

At her death in 1995, "she was not a forgotten artist, but tragically, an unknown one", with virtually none of her artwork known to have survived.[1] Her friend and erstwhile musical collaborator Jean Erdman paid for her funeral. Her grave is in the family plot at the Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sheehy, John. "Sculptor of the Surreal, Whacker of Flowerpots". Reed magazine. Reed College. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "Music: Percussionist". Time. February 22, 1943. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  3. ^ Rosemont, P. (1998). ‘’Surrealist women: An international anthology’’. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  4. ^ Russian America: A Biographical Dictionary, Richard A. Pierce, The Limestone Press, 1990, pp. 215-216
  5. ^ John Cage: Composed in America, ed. Marjorie Perloff and Charles Junkerman, University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 86
  6. ^ "Sculptor of the Surreal, Whacker of Flowerpots". Reed Magazine. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  7. ^ Swed, Mark (September 1, 2012). "John Cage's genius an L.A. story". Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Silverman, Kenneth (2010). Begin again: A biography of John Cage. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  9. ISBN 9780870707711
    .
  10. ^ Kuh, Katharine (1947). "Abstract and Surrealist American Art". Art Institute of Chicago.
  11. ^ Inamori Foundation: Kyoto Prize and Grants, no. 5, 1992, pp. 156-57, www.google.com/books/edition/%E7%A8%B2%E7%9B%9B%E8%B2%A1%E5%9B%A3_%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E8%B3%9E%E3%81%A8%E5%8A%A9%E6%88%90%E9%87%91/Ici5AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.
  12. ^ a b List, Larry. 2005. The imagery of chess revisited. New York: Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.
  13. ^ Kaufman, Susan (August 30, 2012). "John Cage, with Merce Cunningham, revolutionised music, too". Washington Post. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  14. ^ John Cage: Composed in America, ed. Marjorie Perloff and Charles Junkerman, University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 99
  15. ^ City and Borough of Juneau cemetery map, Retrieved March 7 2020
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