Calder: Chess Knightmares

Description

Since the 1930s, Cahiers d'Art has maintained a privileged dialogue with Alexander Calder, first initiated by Christian Zervos. This new volume extends that enduring relationship by exploring the artist's free-spirited and irreverent vision of the game of chess. At the heart of the book, The Knightmares Portfolio (1944) brings together nearly fifty ink drawings in which kings, queens, and knights abandon all discipline to enter a fantastical and subversive realm. Archival documents, rare photographs, and original ephemera further illuminate Calder's sculptural chess sets. The publication also revisits the profound friendship between Calder and Marcel Duchamp, notably through their collaboration on the exhibition The Imagery of Chess. A selective chronology (1931-1968) traces their shared fascination with chess as artistic metaphor and enduring field of experimentation.