Cunningham, Cage, Johns, Rauschenberg: Duchamp's American legacy

Bride, 1912, Marcel Duchamp, American (born France), 1887 – 1968. Oil on canvas, 35 1/4 x 21 7/8 inches (89.5 x 55.6cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Succession Marcel Duchamp

Philadelphia Museum of Art's fall/winter exhibition season includes Dancing around the Bride:Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg and Duchamp, highlighting Marcel Duchamp's impact on four great contemporary artists--composer John Cage, choreographer Merce Cunningham, and visual artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

Dancer Carolyn Brown in Walkaround Time, 1968. Choreography by Merce Cunningham, American, 1919-2009. Stage set and costumes by Jasper Johns, American, b. 1930. Photograph © 1972 by James Klosty

Opening on October 30, the show will feature more than sixty works by Johns and Rauschenberg and more than forty by Duchamp, as well as prerecorded and live music by John Cage, and live performances of Merce Cunningham dances on a large dance floor at the center of the exhibition's “Main Stage” section.

John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Robert Rauschenberg outside Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London during the 1964 world tour of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Photograph © Douglas H. Jeffrey, courtesy Merce Cunningham Trust

“As the Philadelphia Museum of Art holds the world’s largest and most significant collection of works by Marcel Duchamp, it is only fitting for the Museum to present this first exhibition juxtaposing works by Cage, Cunningham, Johns, and Rauschenberg with one another and exploring their complex and vitally important relationship to Duchamp,” says Timothy Rub, the Museum’s George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer. “This multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary show will enable visitors to experience and more fully appreciate one of the most exciting and momentous periods in the history of modern art.”

Dancing around the Bride runs through January 21 and will travel to the Barbican Centre in London in February 2013.

For complete exhibition information, click here.

For general visitor information, click here.

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