Post War & Contemporary Art 
22 May 2024
Post War & Contemporary Art 
169

John Cage 1912–1992

Extended Lullaby

1992/94
acrylic, spruce brass, and twelve 36-note Reuge music box mechanism 6 h × 72⅜ w × 7 d in (15 × 184 × 18 cm)
estimate: $10,000–15,000
result: $40,320
follow artist
own a similar item?
free evaluation

Branded signature and number to lower edge ‘John Cage 6/12’. This work is number 6 from the edition of 12.
provenance: Carl Solway Gallery, Inc., Cincinnati | Acquired from the previous in 1999, Sharon Anderson Boysel, San Francisco | Private Collection

This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.

print

Extended Lullaby is a collaboration between John Cage and Swiss watchmaker Reuge featuring twelve music boxes housed in a transparent acrylic cylinder, revealing the inner mechanisms. The music is comprised of fragments of French composer Erik Satie's “Vexations” (1892), chosen by chance through the I Ching or Book of Changes, an ancient Chinese divination text. Viewers can activate each box, producing a unique and random composition that can be played together, or separately. Influenced by Satie and Eastern philosophies, Cage was an pioneer of chance-controlled music and one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. Extended Lullaby showcases his innovative approach to sound and his commitment to pushing creative boundaries.

Listen to Extended Lullaby

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time.

John Cage

169