Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing), Day Four

John Cage, Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing), Day Four, 1978, hard and soft ground etching, photo etching, drypoint, and sugar aquatint, 12 x 17 in. (30.5 x 43.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Moses Lasky, 2004.32.5.4

Artwork Details

Title: Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing), Day Four
Artist: John Cage
Papermaker: Donald Farnsworth
Printers: Stephen Thomas
Lilah Toland
Publisher: Crown Point Press
Date: 1978
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 12 x 17 in. (30.5 x 43.2 cm)
Credit Line: Bequest of Moses Lasky
Mediums Description: hard and soft ground etching, photo etching, drypoint, and sugar aquatint
Classifications: Graphic Arts
Print
Subjects: Abstract
Object Number: 2004.32.5.4
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2004.32.5.4

Artwork Description

John Cage began making prints after a long and distinguished career as a musical composer. When he was invited Crown Point Press in San Francisco, he called upon ideas and principles he had used as a musician: the development of an idea over time, reliance on chance, the privileging of process over representation, and what he called “the social habits of musicians…the division of labor.”
The title of this series refers to the seven-day period over which he made the prints, completing one each day. When he began, he did not know the technical aspects of the printmaking processes he was going to use, but learned them as he worked with assistance from the professional printers. Over the course of seven days, he tried all the processes available to him at Crown Point Press. He chose a paper he liked as well as the horizontal format and the size of the margins. He selected modest sized copper plates that floated within a twelve-inch central square, and determined the size and shape of his plates by consulting his I Ching charts. His attitudes developed from his studies of Zen Buddhism. By creating a sense of emptiness, he expressed visually the Zen state of “not knowing.”

Multiplicity, 2011