Man Ray, Chess Set (Objet de mon affection), 1920-1962

32 pieces: 16 in very dark bronze 16 in gilded bronze;
board in rosewood and mahogany

99.5 x 57 x 9.5 cm
39 2/16 x 22 7/16 x 3 11/16 in

The chess board is presented on a table made by the artist in collaboration with Jean-Michel Frank in the 1920s, with a hand-engraved text on the frame of the table;...

The chess board is presented on a table made by the artist in collaboration with Jean-Michel Frank in the 1920s, with a hand-engraved text on the frame of the table; at the end of the table are two chests lined with red velvet which serve to store pieces. Man Ray, like Marcel Duchamp, has always been fascinated by chess. He made several projects for the piece in the 1920s and finally succeeded in making the board in 1962. Inscribed “Man Ray” and numbered (on the white king); the chess board perimeter is inlaid with the artist’s poem in French, specially composed by Man Ray in 1962 for this edition and inlaid with his facsimile handwriting.

The first study of 1920 was used by Marcel Duchamp, Gerard Richter, Max Ernst and several other important members of the Dada movement. This work will be shown at the fair together with a collection of vintage chess gelatin silver prints and designs for chess pieces by Man Ray. There are also 5 copies fired in sterling silver.

Inscription on the chess board:
“le Roi est à moi
la Reine est la Tienne
la Tour Fait un four
le Fou est comme vous
le Cavalier déraille
le Pion fait l’espion
comme toute canaille
Fait de toutes pièces”

Provenance

Artist Studio
Marion Meyer Collection, France
Private Collection, Belgium

Exhibitions

American Center of Paris, 1966, Paris, France

Salute to Man Ray, American Center of Paris, 1967, Paris, France

Les objets de mon affection, 1968, Galerie de l'Europe

Man Ray, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 1971, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Travelled to:

Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France

Louisiana Museum, 1971 - 1972, Humblebaek, Denmark

Museum of Modern Art, 1972, Humlebæk, Denmark, no. 147, illustration of another example from the edition p. 73

Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1988, Washington D.C.

Travelled to:

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

Menil Collection, Houston, TX

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1988-1990, Philadelphia, PA

Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia. Tate Modern, 2008, London, UK

Travelled to:

Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, 2008, Barcelona, Spain

Man Ray: Paintings, Photos & Objects, Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, 2012, Knokke, Belgium

Man Ray, Kunstforum Wien, 2018, Vienna, Austria

FROM MAN RAY TO MARIEN: An Idea of Surrealism, MARUANI MERCIER, 2021, Brussels, Belgium

Literature

Man Ray & Sherrie Levine: A Dialogue through Objects, Images & Ideas, JMM Gallery

Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray, The Rigour of Imagination, London, 1977, no. 327, illustration of another example from the edition p. 217

Jean-Hubert Martin, Rosalind Krauss & Brigitte Hermann, Man Ray; Objets de mon affection, Sculptures et

Objets, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1983
Man Ray, Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1971) (exhibition catalogue)
Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, 1972, no. 147, illustration of another example from the edition p. 73

The King, His Lover and Their Bastard: Man Ray - Sherrie Levine - Mathieu Mercier

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Man Ray United States, 1890-1976

Provenance

Exhibitions

Literature