Xenia Cage

Xenia Cage (born Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, August 15, 1913 – September 26, 1995) was an American painter, sculptor, bookbinder, conservator, and musician notable for her surrealist mobiles and artistic collaborations.[2]

Xenia Cage
Xenia with one of her wood-frame and rice-paper mobiles, circa 1943
Born
Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff

(1913-08-15)August 15, 1913
Juneau, Alaska[1]
DiedSeptember 26, 1995(1995-09-26) (aged 82)
NationalityAmerican
Known forPainting, Sculpture
MovementSurrealism
Spouse(s)
John Cage
(
m. 1935⁠–⁠1945)

Cage’s work has been described as on the “cutting edge of surrealism in sculpture” for her time.[3] From 1935 to 1945, Cage was married to the musician and composer John Cage and performed in his percussion ensemble throughout their marriage.[4] Cage is believed to have been the "female performer" who smashed a lime ricky bottle into a can of broken glass at the culmination of John Cage's Construction in Metal.[5] In 1943, Cage exhibited an abstract mobile in Peggy Guggenheim's show Exhibition by 31 Women at the Art of This Century gallery in New York.[6] The next year, Cage had a solo exhibition of her mobiles at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York.[5] Cage notably collaborated with artists Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp as a bookbinder, and designed a chess table in tandem with a set created by Max Ernst.[7] Cage also worked as a conservator at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York.[7]

Xenia was the daughter of Very Reverend Andrew Petrovich Kashevarof and Marfa E. "Marta" Kashevarof (Bolshanin), and sister of Cyril Andrew Kashevarof Sr, Nina Kashevarof, Mary Sasha Andrevna Calvin (Kashevarof, Lydia Brewer (Kashevarof), Nadja Vestal Triplet (Kashevaroff)and Natalya (Kashevarof) Lovejoy. She is the great-aunt of Alex Kashevaroff (composer and musician), and great-great-aunt of David Kashevaroff (film editor).

Xenia's grave is in Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau, Alaska.[8]

References
  1. Sheehy, John. "Sculptor of the Surreal, Whacker of Flowerpots". Reed magazine. Reed College. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  2. "Music: Percussionist". Time. February 22, 1943. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  3. Rosemont, P. (1998). ‘’Surrealist women: An international anthology’’. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  4. Swed, Mark (September 1, 2012). "John Cage's genius an L.A. story". Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  5. Silverman, Kenneth (2010). Begin again: A biography of John Cage. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  6. Butler, Cornelia H.; Schwartz, Alexandra (2010). Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art. New York: Museum of Modern Art. p. 45. ISBN 9780870707711.
  7. List, Larry. 2005. The imagery of chess revisited. New York: Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.
  8. City and Borough of Juneau cemetery map, Retrieved March 7 2020
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