Yes No Maybe Cage Missing Stone

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Yes, No, Maybe

Exhibition Introduction

Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments

Chuck Close

Introduction
Keith
John
Leslie
Self-Portrait

Richard Diebenkorn

Introduction
Touched Red
Green
Combination
High Green Version 1

John Cage

Introduction
17 Drawings by Thoreau
Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing)
Changes and Disappearances
Where R=Ryoanji
Fire
The Missing Stone
75 Stones
Eninka
Stones
Where There is Where There

Echoes

Introduction
Anne Appleby
Pia Fries
Darren Almond
Susan Middleton
Joel Fisher
Brad Brown
Tom Marioni

Yes

Introduction
Mamma Andersson
Sol LeWitt
Fred Wilson
Robert Bechtle
Kiki Smith

No

Introduction
Julie Mehretu
Wayne Thiebaud
Jockum Nordström
Tomma Abts
Nathan Oliveira
Chris Ofili

Maybe

Introduction
Pat Steir
Laura Owens
Wayne Thiebaud
Amy Sillman

John Cage, The Missing Stone, 1989

John Cage, The Missing Stone, 1989

The Missing Stone
1989
color spitbite aquatint and sugarlift aquatint on smoked
paper
top plate: 17 7⁄8 × 35 (45.4 × 88.9)
bottom plate: 26 3⁄4 × 35 5⁄8 (67.9 × 90.5)
sheet: 54 × 40 3⁄4 (137.2 × 103.5)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown,
1996
© John Cage Trust

A mistake was made during the making of The Missing Stone; it was supposed to include tracings of fifteen stones, but only fourteen appear. Cage was amused and accepted the unintentional result, alluding to the stone’s omission in the title.

Banner image: Detail, John Cage, The Missing Stone, 1989, color spitbite aquatint and sugarlift aquatint on smoked paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown, 1996, © John Cage Trust

Next: John Cage, 75 Stones, 1989

Related Resources

"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making
Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)

"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)

Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Related Art

John Cage in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Crown Point Press prints in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Press