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Exhibition Introduction

Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Keith
John
Leslie
Self-Portrait

Introduction
Touched Red
Green
Combination
High Green Version 1

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

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

Introduction
Mamma Andersson
Sol LeWitt
Fred Wilson
Robert Bechtle
Kiki Smith

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

Introduction
Pat Steir
Laura Owens
Wayne Thiebaud
Amy Sillman

John Cage, Eninka, 1986

John Cage, Eninka, 1986

Eninka (failure proof)
1986
burned and smoked paper
sheet: 24 1⁄4 × 18 1⁄2 (61.6 × 47)
Crown Point Press
© John Cage Trust
John Cage, Eninka, 1986

Eninka 29
1986
burned, smoked, and branded gampi mounted to paper
sheet: 24 1⁄2 × 18 1⁄2 (62.2 × 47)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point
Press, 1996
© John Cage Trust
John Cage, Eninka, 1986

John Cage with printers Marcia Bartholme and Lawrence Hamlin working on the Eninka series at Crown Point Press, 1986, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press
John Cage, Eninka, 1986

John Cage with printers Marcia Bartholme and Lawrence Hamlin working on the Eninka series at Crown Point Press, 1986, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press
John Cage, Eninka, 1986

John Cage with printers Marcia Bartholme and Lawrence Hamlin working on the Eninka series at Crown Point Press, 1986, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press
John Cage, Eninka, 1986

John Cage with printers Marcia Bartholme and Lawrence Hamlin working on the Eninka series at Crown Point Press, 1986, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press

Cage’s Eninka prints were made by simultaneously running burning newspaper and a damp sheet of paper through a printing press. A failure proof — a proof that the artist flatly rejected — is rare evidence of one of many tests conducted to determine a suitable combination of fire size and paper weight (see slideshow). The test yielded an imprint of a New York Times advertisement for the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Deeming the print a resounding aesthetic failure, Cage reportedly laughed when he saw it, echoing the “Ha, Ha, Ha” and “Giggle, giggle, chuckle” from the advertisement.
    For Eninka 29, crumpled, rather than flat, newspaper sheets were burned, creating an irregularly shaped hole through the surface. Cage was overjoyed by the first successful Eninka print: “Oh, it’s beautiful! I can’t believe it. I couldn’t sleep all night. I thought my whole life had been a waste!”

Printing John Cage’s "Eninka 29," 1986

This video shows John Cage and the Crown Point printers making Eninka 29. The footage was shot in 1986 and edited by Kathan Brown in 2013, Courtesy of Kathan Brown.



Banner image: Detail, John Cage, Eninka 29, 1986, burned, smoked, and branded gampi mounted to paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Crown Point Press, 1996, © John Cage Trust

Next: John Cage, Stones, 1989

"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)

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 release