The Wonderful Life Of Mercier Philip Cunningham, Born On This Day- April 16th

Walter Kenndy is a University Professor of Dance, & he was a principal dancer with the internationally acclaimed Lewitzky Dance Company for 20 years. Because of him, I know more about dance than most civilians, yet I always feel a bit awkward when I do posts on dancers & choreographers. He may wish to weigh in.

With his partner in life & art- John Cage, Merce Cunningham, born on this day in 1919,  created some of the most memorable dance pieces of the 20th century & beyond. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest choreographers. Cunningham ranks with Isadora Duncan, Serge Diaghilev, Martha Graham & George Balanchine in giving the public the chance to rethink the essence of dance & choreography.

Cunningham met Cage soon after he moved to New York from Washington State, where he was discovered by Martha Graham. His first solo concert, in 1944, was in collaboration with Cage, & the couple remained together until Cage’s death in 1992.

Cage on the left with Cunningham in the late 1950s

Cunningham formed his own dance company in 1953. The company quickly became known for innovation & established itself as an important contributor to the post-war New York dance scene.

Robert Rauschenberg worked as the company’s stage manager, & collaboration with artists-Richard Serra, Jasper Johns & Sol LeWitt continued into the new century. As late as 2007, Cunningham & Rauschenberg continued topremiere new pieces.

Cage was as influential in the world of serious music as Cunningham was in dance. The couple were an artistic punch that slammed through the conventions of post-war America. They experimented with chance encounters of dance, music, & structures.

Cunningham never stopped challenging himself. That he also challenged the rest of us is our enduring good fortune. Cunningham continued to dance into old age. At 80, he danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Cunningham gradually relinquished day to day management of his dance company. On July 26, 2009, he died peacefully in his sleep in his Manhattan home.

The Wonderful Life Of Mercier Philip Cunningham, Born On This Day- April 16th

Walter Keendy is a University Professor of Dance, & he was a principal dancer with the internationally acclaimed Lewitzky Dance Company for 20 years. Because of him, I know more about dance than most civilians, yet I always feel a bit awkward when I do posts on dancers & choreographers. He may wish to weigh in.

With his partner in life & art- John Cage, Merce Cunningham created some of the most memorable dance pieces of the 20th century & beyond. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest choreographers. Cunningham ranks with Isadora Duncan, Serge Diaghilev, Martha Graham & George Balanchine in giving the public the chance to rethink the essence of dance & choreography.

Cunningham met Cage soon after he moved to New York from Washington State, where he was discovered by Martha Graham. His first solo concert, in 1944, was in collaboration with Cage, & the couple remained together until Cage’s death in 1992.

Cage on the left with Cunningham in the late 1950s

Cunningham formed his own dance company in 1953. The company quickly became known for innovation & established itself as an important contributor to the post-war New York dance scene.

Robert Rauschenberg worked as the company’s stage manager, & collaboration with artists-Richard Serra, Jasper Johns & Sol LeWitt continued into the new century. As late as 2007, Cunningham & Rauschenberg continued topremiere new pieces.

Cage was as influential in the world of serious music as Cunningham was in dance. The couple were an artistic punch that slammed through the conventions of post-war America. They experimented with chance encounters of dance, music, & structures.

Cunningham never stopped challenging himself. That he also challenged the rest of us is our enduring good fortune. Cunningham continued to dance into old age. At 80, he danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Cunningham gradually relinquished day to day management of his dance company. On July 26, 2009, he died peacefully in his sleep in his Manhattan home.

Born On This Day- October 22nd... Robert Rauschenberg

"The artist's job is to be a witness to his time in history."

He is one of the Husband’s favorite figures of the 20th century & a major inspiration for his own work. Unfortunetley…or maybe fortunatley, I am no Jasper Johns. But as we watched the documentry- Robert Rauschenberg: Man At Work, I was amazed at the similarity in Rauschenberg & my husband’s demeanor & artistic process.



Robert Rauschenberg was an irrepressibly prolific American artist who reshaped art in the 20th century. His work gave new meaning to sculpture. A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer &, in later years, even a composer, Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist would stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded & pndered all the mediums in which he worked.


Following after Marcel Duchamp, & Joseph Cornell he obscured the lines between painting & sculpture, painting & photography, photography & printmaking, sculpture & photography, sculpture & dance, sculpture & technology, technology & performance art, art & life.

John Cage: “Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look.” Through Rauschenberg’s work, people could see that anything, including junk off the street, could be the stuff of art, & that it could be the stuff of art as a kind of poetry in the consumer glut, which Rauschenberg celebrated. Before Andy Warhol, there was Robert Rauschenberg.


Rauschenberg: “I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, & it must make them miserable.”


He had generosity of spirit, uninhibited & mostly good-natured. When he became rich, he gave millions of dollars to charities for women, children, medical research, other artists & Democratic politicians.

In the mid-1950s, Rauscheberg began a passionate affair with the artists- Cy Twombly, They traveled together to Africa & Europe. Rauschenberg began to collect & assemble objects: bits of rope, stones, sticks, bones, which he showed to a dealer in Rome who exhibited them under the title “scatole contemplative,” or Thought Boxes. They were shown in Florence, where an outraged critic suggested that Mr. Rauschenberg toss them in the river. He thought that sounded like a good idea. After saving a few pieces for himself & friends, he found a secluded spot on the River Arno. Rauschenberg wrote to the critic: “I took your advice.”


Around that time Rauschenberg met Jasper Johns, then unknown, who had a studio in the same building in Lower Manhattan where Mr. Rauschenberg had a loft. Their love affair over the next years went hand in hand with the creation, by both artists, of some of the most groundbreaking works of postwar art.

Rauschenberg: “We gave each other permission to do what we wanted.” Living together in a series of lofts in Lower Manhattan until the 1960s, they exchanged ideas & supported themselves designing window displays for Tiffany & Company & Bonwit Teller.


His association with theater & dance had already begun by the 1950s, when he began designing sets & costumes for Merce Cunningham & composer John Cage. In 1963 he choreographed “Pelican,” which he performed on roller skates while wearing a parachute & helmet of his design to the accompaniment of a taped collage of sound.


I was sad to learn of his passing in the spring of 2008. He is one of my favorite figures of the 20th century, & I loved reading about his circle. Every famous gay man comes out eventually, even if it only happens when he dies. His obituary may be the first chance to know the truth about a gay man's life, but sadly this is not always the case. Even people who were out & proud can find themselves pushed back in the closet after they die. Lovers are suddenly out of the picture, & longtime relationships are refered to as “companions”, in a way that would never happen straight people. Some publications still use the euphemism: “never married."

When Rauschenberg died 2 years ago there was little mention of his long time same sex realtionships. He did marry, but was divorced more than 50 years ago.There is a Portland connection; his son from that marriage- Christopher is a talented photographer who lives & exhibits here. Rauschenberg had relationships with Cy Twombly & Jasper Johns among others, & he was part of a group of gay men working in different disciplines, but all bouncing off ideas & inspiring each other: John Cage, Merce Cunningham & Jasper Johns. “He is survived... by his longtime companion- Darryl Pottorf” claimed the NY Times.” Nice. Maybe when I go, my obit will state: “He lived with his roomate of 50 years”.


I feel an artist’s sexuality is almost always instrumental to their work. Art Critic- Robert Hughes: “Rauscheberg’s art contained some of the few great icons of male homosexual love in modern culture". Other critics have argued that his earlier work was about the artist not revealing himself, how could a gay man in the 1950s? But ignoring Rauschenberg's gayness at the time of his passing was just offensive. How an artist's sexuality has influenced their work & shaped their life should not be a secret that they take to their graves.

Born On This Day- April 16th... American Dance Great: Mercier Philip Cunningham

My former college boyfriend & close buddy WCK3 is visiting for the weekend to join us at tomorrow’s exciting Red Dress Party. He is a University professor of dance, but he was a principal dancer with the internationally acclaimed Lewitzky Dance Company for 20 years. Because of him, I know more about dance than most civilians, yet I always feel a bit awkward when I do posts on dancers & choreographers. He may wish to weigh in.

With his partner in life & art- John Cage, Merce Cunningham created some of the most memorable dance pieces of the 20th century & beyond. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest choreographers.

Cunningham met Cage soon after he moved to New York from Washington State, where he was discovered by Martha Graham. His first solo concert, in 1944, was in collaboration with Cage, & the couple remained together until Cage’s death in 1992.

Cunningham formed his own dance company in 1953. The company quickly became known for innovation & established itself as an important contributor to the post-war New York dance scene.

Robert Rauschenberg worked as the company’s stage manager, & collaboration with artists-Richard Serra, Jasper Johns & Sol LeWitt continued into the new century. In 2007, Cunningham & Rauschenberg premiered a new piece.

Cage was as influential in the world of serious music as Cunningham was in dance. The couple were an artistic punch that slammed through the conventions of post-war America. They experimented with chance encounters of dance, music, & structure.

Cunningham continued to dance into old age. At 80, he danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Cunningham gradually relinquished day to day management of his dance company. On July 26, 2009, he died peacefully in his sleep in his Manhattan home.

Merce Cunningham Takes A Final Bow At 90 Years

He was one of the most influential, inventive & original choreographers of the 20th century. Merce Cunningham was born in Centralia Washington & studies at Cornish School for the Arts In Seattle, where he met composer John Cage who was working there as an accompanist. Cage would become Cunningham's artistic collaborator & life partner for 54 years, until the death of Cage in 1992. They were role models to me when I was just coming out at 17. At Cornish, Cunningham became aware of Martha Graham & after they met in 1939, he became only the 2nd male to dance with her company. He created several dances for her & became a soloist with the company. Cage moved to NYC to be with Cunningham & they started to produce their own work in 1944. The pair became good friends & occasional lovers of painters Robert Rauschenberg & Jasper Johns. The two couples were at the start a circle of young gay artists whose ideas not only challenged the macho self-expressive Abstract Expressionists, who were to dominate the 1950s New York art scene, but also provided a model or alternative creative process that has become the hallmark of post-modern art. In 1953, Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. For over 4 decades, it has provided a unique place in American dance. The company continues tp perform both new & revived works. Merce Cunningham was major force in 20th century art & performance & he has received the National Medal of Arts & membership in the American Academy & the Institute of Arts & Letters. My friend Walter Kennedy, a professional dancer, choreographer & professor of dance, met Mr. Cunningham & is filled with admiration for his work & has told me that he was a "lovely, lovely man". He seemed to be lovely to me... what a face!