Modern and Modernist Chess Sets
A rambling dissertation on modern chess set (design).... till 30th of September!
Art Dada
This modern chess set is difficult to place - I suspect it originates in Taiwan. but this may be totally wrong! We see these sets every now and then in natural wood and darkish brown. Kings stand 100 mm, pieces are a bit unstable, but the elegant lines are very fetching....1960ies to 1980ies....
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Modern and Modernist Chess Sets
The word "modern" is rather "modern" itself - it was as recently as during the 19th century that the concept of Modernity - as a break with the transmitted lore , thinking patterns and working habits - starts to get used. (1) Basically, it relates to the french word "mode" or fashion - France during the 17th to 19th century was the leading country in living trends or fashions, french dresses , furniture, books and works of art were exported and copied all over Europe and even overseas, the "dernier cri de Paris" was a powerful mantra - as "fresh from New York" might be nowadays ! And in dress, Paris continues to be the center for the world of the "haute couture"!
In the realm of art - which after all is the vanguard of fashion - modernity is the break with the habitual, the established and institutionally consagrated practices. It started out as Art Nouveau in France, the Secession in Vienna, Decorative Art in London and Glasgow, the "Jugendstil" in Holland and Germany, and continued with Impressionism Expressionism, Dada, the Futurists, the Surrealists and Abstract Art plus Cubism to follow - and all of these trends are attempts at reforming the existing "oldfashioned" forms of art and its expression.
In consequence, the form of chess sets, of course, has clearly fluctuated with changing habits, tastes and techniques - especially in regard and contrast to the standard form of chessmen, the Staunton form.
Actually , this is nothing new - since chess was introduced into Europe and became a major social pastime, new forms of chess sets have been conceived, sometimes developing existing designs (fe. early Selenus forms) sometimes deviating into radically new forms (like Staunton) What concerns us here, is the interrelation between modern art and and chess pieces - or the fallout from art movements in chess piece design - especially with prominent artists designing chess men instead of nameless turners and workmen.
In the realm of art - which after all is the vanguard of fashion - modernity is the break with the habitual, the established and institutionally consagrated practices. It started out as Art Nouveau in France, the Secession in Vienna, Decorative Art in London and Glasgow, the "Jugendstil" in Holland and Germany, and continued with Impressionism Expressionism, Dada, the Futurists, the Surrealists and Abstract Art plus Cubism to follow - and all of these trends are attempts at reforming the existing "oldfashioned" forms of art and its expression.
In consequence, the form of chess sets, of course, has clearly fluctuated with changing habits, tastes and techniques - especially in regard and contrast to the standard form of chessmen, the Staunton form.
Actually , this is nothing new - since chess was introduced into Europe and became a major social pastime, new forms of chess sets have been conceived, sometimes developing existing designs (fe. early Selenus forms) sometimes deviating into radically new forms (like Staunton) What concerns us here, is the interrelation between modern art and and chess pieces - or the fallout from art movements in chess piece design - especially with prominent artists designing chess men instead of nameless turners and workmen.
Bauhaus
Josef Hartwig after a first start, designed several versions of his cubist chess set - this is the last and best known of his creations.....
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Chess, Cafés and Artists
The growing fascination of creative artists with chess is easy to explain: chess during much of the 19th and 20 the century was mainly played in public coffee houses and pubs - where artists, writers, politicians and in fact every body met, stayed around, delved in and out. Artists were redesigning the world next table to chess masters who were redes9gning their opponents pawn structure, books were written and drawings made in the same highly fertile cloud of tobacco and coffee fumes darkening the café interiors. The café provided motives for paintings, portraits, drawings and novels, was a way of living and and a way of being in the world. Everybody has got to be somewhere - artists thronged to the coffeehouses, for company, inspiration, spirits, dates and job opportunities.
In Paris, the intellectual world met in the Café Regence, in London in Simpson's or other Divans, in Berlin in the Café König , in Vienna in the Café Central and in Budapest in the Cafés New York or Müvesz. . Everybody here played chess - or at least watched others as "Kibitzers". And some of the artists actually played chess - and handled the chessmen used in these cafés.
One of the first designers to adapt the chess concept to his artistic credo was Josef Hartwig, teacher in the Furniture department of the Bauhaus Arts and Crafts school in Germany. In 1924 Hartwig designed his well famed cubic chess set - probably to serve as an exercise for his pupils. It became very popular, was sold at the Bauhaus shops, copied many times and is still being made and sold at ten times of what was the original cost.
Hartwig, in line with the Bauhaus' dedication to cubic forms, flat and angular volumes, silhouettes reduced ot most functional abstraction, designed a set to illustrate design concepts. One of the facets that made it such long-selling item is the fact that all the chessmen can be packed together into a cube!
A highly prominent name is related to the so-called "Joc Catalan" presented in 1929 at the great Barcelona Exhibition - the great architect Antonio Gaudi. In fact, Gaudi could not have designed this set, as he died in 1926 in a tramway accident. Most likely it was designed by one of his numerous pupils and collaborators, at the School of Architecture, in his studio, ior in the Building School founded around the gigantic project of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. This set reflects all the preoccupations of the Gaudi arsenal of rounded forms, of multi-sectioned pillars and rotund surfaces. It never became very popular, because a scant few years after its conception the Spanish Civil War swept away all the creative culture booming and blazing in the Metropolis Barcelona.....
Also Max Esser, star designer in the venerable Meissen Porcelain Manufactury, was embroiled in the swirling artistic currents of his days - and designed a highly unusual chess set in red and black bisque - almost a revolution in the staid Meissen workshop with its famous lilywhite figurines.....
In Paris, the intellectual world met in the Café Regence, in London in Simpson's or other Divans, in Berlin in the Café König , in Vienna in the Café Central and in Budapest in the Cafés New York or Müvesz. . Everybody here played chess - or at least watched others as "Kibitzers". And some of the artists actually played chess - and handled the chessmen used in these cafés.
One of the first designers to adapt the chess concept to his artistic credo was Josef Hartwig, teacher in the Furniture department of the Bauhaus Arts and Crafts school in Germany. In 1924 Hartwig designed his well famed cubic chess set - probably to serve as an exercise for his pupils. It became very popular, was sold at the Bauhaus shops, copied many times and is still being made and sold at ten times of what was the original cost.
Hartwig, in line with the Bauhaus' dedication to cubic forms, flat and angular volumes, silhouettes reduced ot most functional abstraction, designed a set to illustrate design concepts. One of the facets that made it such long-selling item is the fact that all the chessmen can be packed together into a cube!
A highly prominent name is related to the so-called "Joc Catalan" presented in 1929 at the great Barcelona Exhibition - the great architect Antonio Gaudi. In fact, Gaudi could not have designed this set, as he died in 1926 in a tramway accident. Most likely it was designed by one of his numerous pupils and collaborators, at the School of Architecture, in his studio, ior in the Building School founded around the gigantic project of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. This set reflects all the preoccupations of the Gaudi arsenal of rounded forms, of multi-sectioned pillars and rotund surfaces. It never became very popular, because a scant few years after its conception the Spanish Civil War swept away all the creative culture booming and blazing in the Metropolis Barcelona.....
Also Max Esser, star designer in the venerable Meissen Porcelain Manufactury, was embroiled in the swirling artistic currents of his days - and designed a highly unusual chess set in red and black bisque - almost a revolution in the staid Meissen workshop with its famous lilywhite figurines.....
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The Catalan Set
Round forms, strongly stylized knights, baluster stems with multiple collars...
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Gaudi and Co.
Precise turning on this modern reevocation of a classical design from the 20ies....
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Meissen Moderne
Straining to break the tradition-minded and repetitive working of the Meissen factory, Esser came up with this very unusual design. Art Deco modelling, vegetabile forms, no glazing - and above all, none of the world-famous Meissen white!
What is modern ?
The easiest way of defining modernity would be by opposition - anything that is not old long-established - is modern. Less definitive, but possibly more practical - modernity is what a majority of persons perceive to be modern according to the going use of the term.
Or to limit the term to objects made in the time frame we agree on as modernity - "Modern Times". or finally - and that is my preferred definition - objects or designs or thoughts that make a definitive break in relation to "the world of yesterday" - meaning basically the creative eruptions of the 20th century till today. (2)
Or to limit the term to objects made in the time frame we agree on as modernity - "Modern Times". or finally - and that is my preferred definition - objects or designs or thoughts that make a definitive break in relation to "the world of yesterday" - meaning basically the creative eruptions of the 20th century till today. (2)
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French Modern
Intriguing forms for kings and queens on this french set from around WW 2 - either slightly before or after.
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Modern replique
Similar queens and kings on this aluminium set from the 70ies....
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1940ies
Unusual set made probably by a craftsman in Northern Germany in the 1940ies - oversize royalty, differing kings!, rounded forms, Massive royalty and pawns - leptosome knights and rooks - a huge steeple from top to bottom.
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Marcel Duchamp
The one artist whose whole live was most intertwined with chess was Marcel Duchamp - any thought on modernistic chess men leads us inevitably to his lifelong involvement with chess.
Duchamp vz. Babitz
Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz playing a game of chess - Pasadena 1963
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Carol Holt- Peter Blake in a revamp - London 2007
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Duchamp - the chess-infatuated artist
Duchamps's lifelong fascination with chess started in 1919, during a prolonged stay of over three years in Buenos Aires. here, he writes" I started to study the games of Capablanca, and to take lessons with the best club players" (3) . In a letter he states that" my full attention is devoted to chess. I play day and night, and nothing in the world interests me as much as finding the best move. More and more , I am losing interest in painting." (3)
During this stay he designed his first chess set - which he later tried to market as Marshall Chess Set - with mitigated success......
During this stay he designed his first chess set - which he later tried to market as Marshall Chess Set - with mitigated success......
Duchamp Set
A later version of Duchamp's design....
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Designed for the Julien Levy exhibition "The imagery of chess" in 1944
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Images of Chess
One of Duchamp's many achievements consisted in organizing a ground breaking exhibition under the name "The imagery of chess" in 1944, in the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1944. With lots of exiled artist from France around , many of them personal friends, it cannot have been very difficult to persuade his friends and acquaintances to design chess sets of their own - and the result was a minor sensation in wartime New York. Since then, a great deal of working sculptors , architects, and painters have followed suit - and at one time or another in their live designed chess sets of their own..... and for artists like Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy, the concern with chess design became a continuing part of their artistic output. (4)
Max Ernst 1944
Max Ernst took his design very seriously, produced various designs and drawingts until arriving at this result. These sets were made in various materials, and sizes (even a street size version!).
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Max Ernst 1966
A later design in copper and tin , featuring Ernst's myth-inspired primeval figures.....
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Alexander Calder's contribution....
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Yves Tanguy
Tanguy's design was very simple: he cut a broomstick into sections, each of which conformed to a geometrical basic form, and painted them! His simple abstract design has been repeated and copied till this day....
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Tanguy's design was the one most copied in later times, and proved to be an ideal model for the many people making their won chess set, and artists who felt they also had to come up with a chess set of their own! Man Ray produced a chess set incorporating basic geometrical forms - cube, sphere, pyramid - and was so intrigued by the experience that he improved the design, and had it marketed in a glossy finish and presentation package. The theme never left him - and hie deigned several more sets of chess men during his lifetime.
Man Ray
Man Ray had his set cast and packaged professionally, and actually worked hard to make this design - spheres, pyramids, cubes - a commercial success.
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Man Ray later version....
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.. still another morphism of his set....
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Isamu Noguchi 1944
Nisei (= American -Japanese) architect Isamu Noguchi contributed a whole table, with matching figures in metal wire work... another technique we see often used in later chess sets ... there is nothing new under the sun...
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The show left such a lasting impression - plus all the contributors were major figures of American and World Art - that all these set form part of the permanent exhibition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The presence of these sets must have inspired the longtime curator of the Design Department, Lanier Graham - he designed a chess set as well!
Lanier Graham set
Lanier Graham' set owes much to the Bauhaus set, but also a bit to Tanguy's broomstick try.
The new York exhibit left a lasting mark - both for chess sets, for the participating artists - and for later chess-minded designers and sculptors. Plus something like a fashion or habit - for an artist to strut his stuff it became a standard operation to design a set of chess men! And far advanced in to the 20th century, is is surprising how many people, companies, design teams feel the fatal call of chess - to the degree of coming up with a version of their own! All thanks to Marcel, or what? (5)
Workhorse designs
Anybody may design a chess set - but certain people in turner shops or toy factories were obliged to think up something new - and some of these designs became well known, others stayed anonymous. A quite extraordinary design is due to the pervasive mania of Nazi officials to to change and mold all walks of life to their credos . The so-called "Deutsche Bundesform" (German Federal Standard) chessmen are Staunton chessmen simplified according to the estetic and functional canons of the times and place - "Neue Sachlichkeit " or "New Functionalism". Round forms, no crenellations, reduced knight heads, and the accoutrements of Staunton royalty reduced to bare touches - that is Bundesform, which enjoyed a long life in German club life after the war, thanks to a continuous production well into the 70ies, principally by the main factory in the GDR! Not the least underlying motive is provided by the fact that these chessmen were a lot cheaper to make than Standard Staunton sets - which continued to be made parallel to the Nazi sets, in the same manufactories.....
Similar estetics are seen in the Unicorn design in England, which was only made in small sizes, mainly for home and hobby use. And other designs - pay homage to functionality as well.....
Similar estetics are seen in the Unicorn design in England, which was only made in small sizes, mainly for home and hobby use. And other designs - pay homage to functionality as well.....
rocket bishops, calice rooks, grippy pawns...
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Bundesform
Prewar version of these chess men, in a svelte style - other versions are much cruder or massive.
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Simplicity
This small set - poverty or simplicity - is from the 1940ies, made in Germany ,simple forms, minute feautes , and well polished. It is dated - 1940 - and must have been a standard toy set then....
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Mark of the Unicorn
Reduced forms, boxwood, polished and carefully finished pieces - although sometimes called "poverty sets" these chessmen are not cheaply made, although serial and economic turning must have been an extra advantage....
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Turned tons
Quite astonishing - furniture parts must have patronized this design - most likely made in a carpentry specializing on turned wooden components for beds and cupboards....
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Modes and Mods
If we promenade our eyes over a lot of unusual. bizarre, highly visual or pittoresque chess set - in may cases a motley collection of objects masquerading as a chess set! - we may ask ourselves what makes a chess set modern, what makes it standard, what makes it outdated or antiquarian. The answer probably has to do with our established habits, viewing standards and setup of experiences. We most likely will see Staunton sets as standard playing utensils, Regency sets as somewhat outdated and impractical pieces - and anything not in these or other known forms as outlandish or - futuristic.
A modern chess set - like any designer piece, often comes accompanied by its own bravado or inbuilt quality pretensions. In other words, like any modern work of art, it is presented with a fanfare - and if You do not understand it, or feel attracted, or are impressed - that will reflect on Your status as a connoisseur. Or simply - if You are not up to it, You are downed by it, You are a boor, an ignorant, a slowpoke - somebody who has been left behind by the march of fashion! And the timid chess players who might object that chess pieces should at least be recognizeable, be at least stable and resistant, are pooh-poohed by the elite crowd of cognoscenti for whom the chess sphere is just one more stage for displaying ethereal and passing artistic impulses....
In design, we are mesmerized by the voluble explanations and the cerebral background of a design - very few star designers try out their stuff on a test group before coming to the fore. But the reactions of the public - the future users, admirers or victims of a design - may depend on a multitude of factors. One of the least with chess sets being that it should be possible to conduct a game with a chess set, since chess men somehow are precariously balanced on a divide between artistic licence and practical considerations.....
A modern chess set - like any designer piece, often comes accompanied by its own bravado or inbuilt quality pretensions. In other words, like any modern work of art, it is presented with a fanfare - and if You do not understand it, or feel attracted, or are impressed - that will reflect on Your status as a connoisseur. Or simply - if You are not up to it, You are downed by it, You are a boor, an ignorant, a slowpoke - somebody who has been left behind by the march of fashion! And the timid chess players who might object that chess pieces should at least be recognizeable, be at least stable and resistant, are pooh-poohed by the elite crowd of cognoscenti for whom the chess sphere is just one more stage for displaying ethereal and passing artistic impulses....
In design, we are mesmerized by the voluble explanations and the cerebral background of a design - very few star designers try out their stuff on a test group before coming to the fore. But the reactions of the public - the future users, admirers or victims of a design - may depend on a multitude of factors. One of the least with chess sets being that it should be possible to conduct a game with a chess set, since chess men somehow are precariously balanced on a divide between artistic licence and practical considerations.....
After Tanguy
This recent chess set uses the Tanguy arsenal of sloped bishops, flat-topped kings and queens, abstract knights,- but has improved it by adding wide bases....
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in Metal
Aluminium and brushed inoxidable steel are popular media for modern chess sets - esp. for companies who want to to parade their technical excellence....
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Tangible
This glass chess set conceived in Portugal by a glass craftsman is made up of round glass sections with minimum signs to designate the pieces ....
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Like all glass sets, made to to be highlighted by sunrays and strobe lights....
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Standard forms
Passing revue of the many chess sets we might classify under "modern" we soon see that the pieces mostly are either
- cylindrical in form,
- or rectangular.
This has to do with stylistic reasons - cubism and the Bauhaus credo in cubes which pervades modern architecture and even sculpture , or the eternal presence of columns - but also with technical reasons. Round or rectangular bars in various materials are easily obtained, and facilitate making a chess set.
Just as often we find that the distinctions of the various pieces obey to certain standards, already set by Tanguy and contemporaries:
- slope-topped bishops (or knights!),
- cylindrical rooks,
- slight crownlike crenellations on king and queen,
- either abstracted knight tops, vaguely redolent of a horse head,
- and any kind of pawns - if the set is cylindrical the pawns are little cylinders, if the chessmen are rectangular in shape, so are the pawns - simply smaller in size.
In other words, a certain industrial standardization has become the norm for many chess sets contemporary or modern, and the war cry of modern consumer culture - make it simple and make it cheap! - is not far absent from such creations. Of course, exceptions confirm the rule - and some self-respecting artists will go to considerable lengths to conceive and execute a strongly individual set of chess men.
- cylindrical in form,
- or rectangular.
This has to do with stylistic reasons - cubism and the Bauhaus credo in cubes which pervades modern architecture and even sculpture , or the eternal presence of columns - but also with technical reasons. Round or rectangular bars in various materials are easily obtained, and facilitate making a chess set.
Just as often we find that the distinctions of the various pieces obey to certain standards, already set by Tanguy and contemporaries:
- slope-topped bishops (or knights!),
- cylindrical rooks,
- slight crownlike crenellations on king and queen,
- either abstracted knight tops, vaguely redolent of a horse head,
- and any kind of pawns - if the set is cylindrical the pawns are little cylinders, if the chessmen are rectangular in shape, so are the pawns - simply smaller in size.
In other words, a certain industrial standardization has become the norm for many chess sets contemporary or modern, and the war cry of modern consumer culture - make it simple and make it cheap! - is not far absent from such creations. Of course, exceptions confirm the rule - and some self-respecting artists will go to considerable lengths to conceive and execute a strongly individual set of chess men.
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Rectangular
Quite recent try at creating something totally new - in stone oak wood. Bit unstable, but showy - interesting solution of passing off the pawns as miniature rooks.....usually they are closer to being smaller bishops...
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Minimalist
One feature of many contemporary "new designs" is the lack of a steeple - all pieces have the same height! This is especially frequent in novelty sets, or promotion sets - conceived by people who are unaware of the relative value of the pieces as well as the rules and finality of the game itself!
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basic forms are cylindrical... remember Tanguy's broom?
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Tangesque
This design owes much to Tanguy again - and is quite well made and designed. Whether the slop-topped pieces is the bishop or a knight, would be a matter of arrangement....That apart, all pieces are well sized and marked with minimal effort. Very functional .. playable?
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Tubular Steel
Nicely polished set - here the sloped top denotes the knight instead of the bishop! But which is queen, which is bishop, why is the king so much higher? Modern designers may feel attracted to chess, but is chess made more attractive by their designs?
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Hugo Boss chess set
Tube design by fashion czar Hugo Boss - at least sold with his name! - which marks the pieces with concave symbols inlet into the tops of alu cylinders....favours the view from above.....
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Acrylic blocks
Not really extremely inventive in form, this set confirms the suspicion that it is easier to work from existing bars of material! The miniature replicas of chess symbols prove that the designer did try to keep the pieces identifiable.....
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Mavericks
At the other end of the spectrum, we have totally original or even unclassifiable chess sets - are they modern - or just weird? We tend to be surprised, flabbergasted , fairly baffled when we are confronted with something that completely upsets or expectations or habits. I suppose that might be the case with some chess sets - especially if our minds are preconditioned to the well proven and well established Staunton forms.....but shock effects and surprises are part of modern times.. to the degree that and entire industry has become specialized in creating these surprises - in movies and especially in publicity where anything that shakes the placid mind is considered a success.....
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Deco or Nouveau
These chessmen are a strange mixture of vegetabile forms and figurative elements - and seem to denote tan origin in furniture parts. The kings with flower-like crown - formerly golden - stands 204 mm high ....needless to say, unplayable....
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Surrealist
Extradordinary set - we vaguely see a group of decapitated Elizabethan courtiers, or at least their robes.... - and then the image disappears, and just rounded and flowing forms remain. Stupendous attempt at sleight of hand in chess design - no steeple in the set, what are the bishops and knights is a matter of deciision - or no matter at all?
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kings and queens.. not too well distinguished
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Pepperbox
This stands out because of the peppered tropical wood used on the dark side - Black Palmyra, creating this lovely effect. But the design is certainly novel, although all the major pieces have the same height....
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Pegs
Hard to say whether the inventor here wanted something practical - pegs! - or just was using wooden rolls and components. In any case, this small set actually is easy to use....
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Eggs
Using ovoid forms, a showy set in red and white, made in wood. Minimal features to designate the pieces - knights and bishops a bit of a puzzle at first - a pleasure to touch and handle - not a good set to play rapid games with! Compare also the Michael Graves set under Plastic.
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What is this?
Obviously a chess set - 16 men each side - with a shoddily varnished white and a smooth red side. Could have originated as prison camp set - or just as a carpentry exercise - or a stroke of genius?
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Modern Playing Sets
The greater challenge in designing a chess set - and if one is aware that the Staunton set is considered the habitual tool for actually playing the game of chess, to the degree that many laymen do not recognize any other! - is to find a form that maintains the advantages of the Staunton form, or even improves on it. That is, stability, ruggedness, easy recognition, a steeple, and being easy to grasp and move. This is actually the "cutting edge" - so to speak - for innovation - to create a chess set that chess players themselves will like and approve, and which at the same time breaks the mold, improves or remorphs the known formal pattern.
One of these tries is the "Berlin" set propagated by Berlin chess company APF von Rolland from the 60ies onwards - and which is still made today, mostly by Indian houses like Aristocraft and Chopra. Another very interesting set was field by the traditional french chess material maker Chavet - during some time marketed as "Karpov" chess set (by arrangement with the Champ, I suppose...) , but simply known and somewhat coily appreciated by connoisseurs and players alike as "Chavet Modern" .
One of these tries is the "Berlin" set propagated by Berlin chess company APF von Rolland from the 60ies onwards - and which is still made today, mostly by Indian houses like Aristocraft and Chopra. Another very interesting set was field by the traditional french chess material maker Chavet - during some time marketed as "Karpov" chess set (by arrangement with the Champ, I suppose...) , but simply known and somewhat coily appreciated by connoisseurs and players alike as "Chavet Modern" .
"Ick bin oine Baliner" - Berlin set
Elegant and chique pieces - made generally in two parts, top and base. The balance problems are solved with a lead pill in the base. This is the tournament size (100 mm kings) smaller versions were/are also made. I do not know if these sets were actually used in tournament play...
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Chavet
Polished to a fine natural sheen, these contemporary pieces might seem topheavy - but are in fact very well weighted. Kings stand 87 mm - again, I doubt that these sets have been actually used in competition. They are great to play, and absolutely fascinating to look at....
Chavet Modern - toy version
Lacquered in irisating red and black, this fetching smaller set is meant for home use....
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Rounders
This well polished set might actually be a lot older than it seems, as far back as the 30ies. While the knights are just weird, the bishops make a statement , and kings and queen are reminiscent of similar forms in the 30ies.
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ANRI's modern chess designs
From 1949 onwards till today , the house of Anton Rifesser (ANRI) in Val Gardena, Upper italy, have produced a goodly 20 or more chess sets in wood. The tradition of the Valley has always been carving and woodwork as well tourism, which go hand in hand. While the earlier designs conformed to the local habit of traditional figurine designs, ANRI at various moments collaborated with modern artists to produce chess set that veer sharply away from established forms.
Among the design we might term modern or the two chess set created by US designer Arthur Elliott - the well known Space Age Universum set created in 1958 and made till 1982, and the small Modern Staunton set stand out. Another rather interesting design made and sold briefly by ANRI is called Elsinore - with minimalistic indents to characterize some very bland chessmen....
Among the design we might term modern or the two chess set created by US designer Arthur Elliott - the well known Space Age Universum set created in 1958 and made till 1982, and the small Modern Staunton set stand out. Another rather interesting design made and sold briefly by ANRI is called Elsinore - with minimalistic indents to characterize some very bland chessmen....
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Modern Staunton - ANRI & Elliott
This tiny set was only briefly produced between 1964 and 1966 - it is certainly a try to innovate....though not as radical as the following one...
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Universum Space Age Set
Inspired in rockets, sputniks, and other paraphernalia of the 20th Century, this set is both completely novel as very well balanced and finished.
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Elsinore
Blocky and scantily formed main figures, sketched horses heads, simple square-shaped rooks - and minimalistic additions to designate the rank of the pieces.
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Artist's licence
Artists continue to be fascinated by and intrigued with the game of chess - and since chess is cool and in among artists - performing, writing, and creative - many of them continue to feel obliged to create a chess set themselves. Waht starts out as a playful exerecisze, can easily turn into a major enterprise.
Max Soellner, sculptor and graphic artist in and from Nuremberg in Germany, played chess almost every day, and a large part of his creative output gyrates around chess, its arsenal of forms and metaphysical implications. Salvador Dali's finger chess set - cast in massive gold - created quite an amount of ballyhoo in its day - especially when the master informed the public his breast tits had served as model for the finger tops! apart form the original run of 10 golden sets, a more economical version was produced in Catalunya in the 90ies. German artist Paul Wunderlich left us a very odd and highly visual chess set cum table - more of an abstract sculpture toying with the them of chess, and fraught in mythological lore. And in 2009, a group of mostly british artists including Damien Hirst teamed up to create a very odd show of artistic chess sets (6) which was shown in succession in Rejkjavik, London and several other cities. Not all of the artistic creation are modernistic, even if created in modern times. Teh show seems to ahve been a great success, especially thanks to the shock effects created by Jake and Dino Chapmans chess set, and Maurizio Cattalan's contribution.
Max Soellner, sculptor and graphic artist in and from Nuremberg in Germany, played chess almost every day, and a large part of his creative output gyrates around chess, its arsenal of forms and metaphysical implications. Salvador Dali's finger chess set - cast in massive gold - created quite an amount of ballyhoo in its day - especially when the master informed the public his breast tits had served as model for the finger tops! apart form the original run of 10 golden sets, a more economical version was produced in Catalunya in the 90ies. German artist Paul Wunderlich left us a very odd and highly visual chess set cum table - more of an abstract sculpture toying with the them of chess, and fraught in mythological lore. And in 2009, a group of mostly british artists including Damien Hirst teamed up to create a very odd show of artistic chess sets (6) which was shown in succession in Rejkjavik, London and several other cities. Not all of the artistic creation are modernistic, even if created in modern times. Teh show seems to ahve been a great success, especially thanks to the shock effects created by Jake and Dino Chapmans chess set, and Maurizio Cattalan's contribution.
Soellner corks
Abstract set made of corks, wood and tapes plus paint...Soellner also created about 7 different chess set in bronze , edited in small editions, and today very sought after.....
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Soellner washing line clip set...
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Salvador Dali
Using his fingers as model, the Dali set is just one more object in the endless panopticum the man left to fill museums and galleries....
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Paul Wunderlich
This is the board version - Wunderlich also created a superb table, in both cases the board is composed of minutely cut and polished wood squares. The bronce figurines are quite detailed and full of allusions to classical themes....
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Damien Hirst
Composed of cylindrical perspecx bottles. As one can see, Hirst manages to dominate the scene over his chess pieces....
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Alastair Mackie
Taking a page out of Hirst's repertoire, Mackie has embalmed various insects - spiders, scorpions, ants - in formalin -filled containers...
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Rachel Whiteread
Dollhouse furniture takes the stage, cast in the role of chessmen....
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Barbara Kruger
Definitely a chess set, along lines already traced in 1940 in the Julien Levy show - but with impeccable colouring and finish, and a custom-designed box. This lady knows the basics of faire l'art pour l'art.....
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Collectors slant
Whether it is worth the while - and time - and expense - to pay attention to modern chess sets, is every collector's own beeswax. Those I know are strongly attracted by novel forms, and will obtain a chess set because it "looks interesting", or is well made, or or is something beyond their experience. Not all of these sets will ever amount to anything in terms of value (auction results) or appreciation - but in my case, there are few of the modern sets I have taken in I regret buying.
Every extraordinary form, each more or less eccentric composition reinforces my belief of chess as a pervading cultural element. and a great many of recent modernistic sets have enriched the arsenal of forms - which as we know in chess men is almost endless! - to a considerable degree.. In this sense, collectors who will concentrate on antiques do miss out on some esthetic and artistic - to say nothing of chessic - experiences.....
Every extraordinary form, each more or less eccentric composition reinforces my belief of chess as a pervading cultural element. and a great many of recent modernistic sets have enriched the arsenal of forms - which as we know in chess men is almost endless! - to a considerable degree.. In this sense, collectors who will concentrate on antiques do miss out on some esthetic and artistic - to say nothing of chessic - experiences.....
Links and notes
1) see also the Wikipedia articles under
here
and
here
2) see here
3) see Ernst Strouhal, Duchamps Spiel, Vienna, Sonderzahl, pp. 33
4) see for example here
5) see here for a book on Duchamp and chess
6) check the whole of the show here
Reactions
When does a set described as 'Modern' cease to be so, if ever? Perhaps 'Modernist', as you also use, is a better word - as it avoids the element of time, and concentrates more on the impact on a design's introduction. If so, then one could argue that even the Staunton design was decidedly 'Modernist' in 1849, as it was an attempt to both standardize and get away from what were considered (at least by Staunton himself!) to be limiting elements in other sets designs (major pieces hiding lesser on the board; difficulty in differentiating some pieces due to similarity of shape etc).
Yet the Staunton design has so invaded and captured the chess world, and, in the process, become so mainstream, that it is most peoples' (in much of the west, at least) only idea of what a chess set should look like. To that extent, it must have 'lost' its 'Modernist' title at some point - perhaps when FIDE adopted it? Perhaps this shows that it is not time alone, but the degree of acceptance or outlandishness that dictates whether a set should continue to be considered as 'Modernist' long after its original introduction.
I fully agree that many Modernist designs are extremely interesting - and it would be unduly limiting to rule them out from a collection. Imagine if people had thought that about early Staunton sets: 'It'll never catch on, y'know"!
My favourite designs in the Exhibition? Undoubtedly the Universum, as it is just so tactile (I have one), but also the 'Surrealist' set, as it can surely be seen in a number of lights (eg. I see heads on the pieces, surrounded by ruff collars etc, and not decapitated figures; also, some of the figures vaguely remind me of some Chinese sets somehow).
As ever, a well-thought out exhibition with a number of interesting sets, some commonly seen in books etc but a number of which I haven't seen before. This - and all the earlier ones - exhibition deserves to be kept available for viewing, and not relegated to the dustbin after the official closing date! You should introduce a 'library' album for past exhibitions, somehow: I'm sure it would be popular. Not many collectors show such a wide range of chess sets or are prepared to make their thoughts on them so public.
Keith Middleton
Yet the Staunton design has so invaded and captured the chess world, and, in the process, become so mainstream, that it is most peoples' (in much of the west, at least) only idea of what a chess set should look like. To that extent, it must have 'lost' its 'Modernist' title at some point - perhaps when FIDE adopted it? Perhaps this shows that it is not time alone, but the degree of acceptance or outlandishness that dictates whether a set should continue to be considered as 'Modernist' long after its original introduction.
I fully agree that many Modernist designs are extremely interesting - and it would be unduly limiting to rule them out from a collection. Imagine if people had thought that about early Staunton sets: 'It'll never catch on, y'know"!
My favourite designs in the Exhibition? Undoubtedly the Universum, as it is just so tactile (I have one), but also the 'Surrealist' set, as it can surely be seen in a number of lights (eg. I see heads on the pieces, surrounded by ruff collars etc, and not decapitated figures; also, some of the figures vaguely remind me of some Chinese sets somehow).
As ever, a well-thought out exhibition with a number of interesting sets, some commonly seen in books etc but a number of which I haven't seen before. This - and all the earlier ones - exhibition deserves to be kept available for viewing, and not relegated to the dustbin after the official closing date! You should introduce a 'library' album for past exhibitions, somehow: I'm sure it would be popular. Not many collectors show such a wide range of chess sets or are prepared to make their thoughts on them so public.
Keith Middleton
