Paris, France — The chessboard meets Alexander Calder, the American sculptor known for his whimsical mobiles, monumental sculptures and beloved rendering of a miniature circus. Cahiers d’Art, the publisher, gallery and review, founded in Paris in 1926 by Christian Zervos, has just released two new exclusive editions: a recreated Calder Chess Set and an art book the Calder Chess Knightmares under the direction of Alexander S.C. Rower, president of the Calder Foundation and grandson of the artist. The art book brings together, for the first time, the Chess Knightmares, a series of 46 ink drawings reinventing  Kings, Queens, Knights, Bishops, Rooks, and Pawns as irreverent and anarchic figures. The drawings are accompanied by the alternative titles by Marcel Duchamp, photographs, ephemera, archives and critical essays. 

In 1944, Alexander Calder created an original chess set for The Imagery of Chess, a group exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. Of the three sets he designed in the 1940s, this recreation is the one he kept to play with at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. Challenging tradition, Calder redefined the visual language of chess. He designed a playful and anti-hierarchical universe, merging sculpture and social commentary. For example the queen is larger than the king while the oversized knight disrupts the chessboard and importantly instead of black and white, Calder chose to fashion his chess board in vibrant reds and blues offering up a harmonious board as art work.  Calder would gift an earlier version of this chess set to his friend Marcel Duchamp, a passionate chess player, who once said, « If not all artists are chess players, all chess players are artists. » 

Over five years of development were necessary to recreate the 1944 chess set. Each piece has been faithfully reproduced from detailed 3D scans of the original and precision-milled from solid wood, thus preserving the texture, scale, and spirit of Calder’s craftsmanship. The Calder Chess Knightmares edition by Alexander S.C. Rower is available at the Calder Gardens shop in Philadelphia and at Cahiers d’Art. The Calder Chess Set is available at Cahiers d’Art, a Parisian art institution renowned for its collaborations with Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Giacometti. After a 50-year hiatus, Cahiers d’Art was revived in 2012 under the direction of Staffan Ahrenberg and today continues its mission to promote great artists through books, exhibitions, and limited editions.  14-15 rue du Dragon, 75006 Paris. Tel: +33 (0)1 45 48 76 73. https://cahiersdart.com/©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette