Xenia Cage (born Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, August 15, 1913, Juneau, Alaska – September 26, 1995, New York) was an American

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

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

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 Jackson (formerly, Botilleas, Botilleas Spring, Bottileas, Bottle Spring, and Botellas) is a city in and the county seat of Amador County, California. Its population was 4,651 at the 2010 census, up from 3,989 at the 2000 census. The city is acc ...

, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, before returning to

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality A mu ...

, and Martha (née Bolshanin). She studied art at

Reed College Reed College is a private university, private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor style architecture ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

. While she was a student at Reed, she was the subject in many of

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

's photographs.

Career

Throughout her marriage to the musician and composer John Cage – from 1935 to 1945 – Xenia performed in his percussion ensemble. Cage is believed to have been the "female performer" who smashed a lime ricky bottle into a can of broken glass at the culmination of John Cage's ''Construction in Metal''.Silverman, Kenneth (2010). ''Begin again: A biography of John Cage''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. In 1943, Cage exhibited an abstract mobile in

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with ...

's show '' Exhibition by 31 Women'' at the Art of This Century gallery in New York. The next year, Cage had a solo exhibition of her mobiles at the

Julien Levy Gallery Julien Levy (1906–1981) was an art dealer and owner of Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, important as a venue for Surrealists, avant-garde artists, and American photographers in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Levy was born in New York. Aft ...

in New York. In 1947, she exhibited another abstract mobile called ''Black Trap'' at the Art Institute of Chicago's ''American Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture 58th Annual: Abstract and Surrealist American Art'' curated by

Katharine Kuh Katharine Kuh (''née'' Woolf; 1904–1994) was an art historian, curator, critic, and dealer from Chicago, Illinois. She was the first woman curator of European art and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. Life Katharine Woolf was born ...

. This piece was made from wood, paper, and string. Cage notably collaborated with artists

Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and film-maker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental film ...

and

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

as a bookbinder (she studied bookbinding with Hazel Dreis), and designed a chess table in tandem with a set created by

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

.List, Larry. 2005. ''The imagery of chess revisited''. New York: Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum. By the 1950s, Cage had ceased to publicly exhibit her art, and worked at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. She also worked as a conservator at the

Cooper-Hewitt Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian Inst ...

in New York from 1968.

Personal life

In 1935, she married John Cage; they divorced in 1945 when a

ménage à trois A () is a domestic arrangement and committed relationship with three people in polyamorous romantic or sexual relations with each other, and often dwelling together; typically a traditional marriage between a man and woman along with anothe ...

with

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

became a private affair between the two men; Cage and Cunningham were together until Cage's death. In a 1992 interview, John Cage 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. 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. Her friend and erstwhile musical collaborator

Jean Erdman Jean Erdman (February 20, 1916 – May 4, 2020) was an American dancer and choreographer of modern dance as well as an avant-garde theater director. Biography Early years and background Erdman was born in Honolulu. Erdman's father, John Pine ...

paid for her funeral. Her grave is in the family plot at the Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau, Alaska.City and Borough of Juneau cemetery map
Retrieved March 7 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cage, Xenia 1913 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists Reed College alumni People from Juneau, Alaska