Chess set

Details

MAN RAY (1890-1976)
Chess set
signed, dated and stamped with initial 'MAN RAY 1947 R' (on the top of the gold king); stamped with initial again 'R' (on the top of the red king)
anodized aluminum chess pieces
height varies from 1 7⁄8 in. (4.7 cm.) to 1 1⁄4 in. (3.2 cm.)
(32)Conceived in wood in 1920; this version executed in 1947

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by the late owners, circa 1972.

Literature

A. Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, New York, 1977, pp. 203-204, no. 326 (original wood version illustrated, p. 217).
J.-M. Huber, B. Hermann and R. Krauss, Man Ray: Objets de mon affection, Paris, 1983, p. 161 (another version illustrated).

Exhibited

Miami, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sweet Dreams and Nightmares: Dada and Surrealism from the Rosalind and Melvin Jacobs Collection, March-May 2000.

Further details

Andrew Strauss and Timothy Baum of the Man Ray Expertise Committee have confirmed the authenticity of this work and that it will be included in the catalogue raisonné of the Objects and Sculptures of Man Ray, currently in preparation.