John Cage first met Marcel Duchamp in the 1940s. Duchamp asked Cage to write music for his part in Hans Richter’s film Dreams that Money Can Buy (1946). But it took twenty more years before the two actually became close. Cage didn’t want to bother Duchamp with his friendship until he realized that Duchamp’s health was failing. Then he decided to actively seek his company. He knew that Duchamp was taking chess very seriously, and it was easy for Cage to use this pretext, so he simply asked him to teach him the game. And for the last three years of Duchamp’s life the two men and Teeny Duchamp, the bachelor’s bride, met at least once a week and played chess.

“John Cage on Marcel Duchamp: An Interview, ” by Moira Roth and William Roth, Art in America (November-December, 1973), p. 151 - 161.

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Here is a video excerpt of their collaboration, as featured in Richter’s film. On full display are Marcel Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs, optical experiments that took the form of various circular patterns printed on cardboard disks. In order for the illusions to be viewed as Duchamp intended, they were to be shown rotating at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute – which become especially hypnotic when paired with Cage’s atonal score. 

An edition of Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs are on view in our current exhibition “A Marcel Duchamp Collection,” through 14 May 2016. Visit our website to see more images from the show.

*Fun gallery history fact: L.A. Louver mounted an exhibition with John Cage in 1979 – learn more here.