John Cage

John Cage studied architecture, ethnic music and composition, taking free private counterpoint and analysis lessons under Arnold Schonberg. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp and Dada, Cage studied Zen Buddhism with Zen master Daisetsu Suzuki and staged spontaneous activities and happenings in the early fifties. In his later life he became a creator of fine visual art works, predominantly on paper. Vol.I of the John Cage Catalogue Raisonne of Visual art work features his Ryoanji works for the first time published in a book. Referring to the Kyoto Ryoanji Garden and executed in pencil or etching on paper that is evocative of raked sand, they depict the contours of fifteen stones. "