A chess set and associated stuff, based on the design by Max Ernst for Marcel Duchamp in 1944
my version ...
turned and whittled chess set in brazilian mahogany
second version, May 2020
(pieces tipped over to show I have felt bottoms)
first version, 2010
(like Ernst's, knights narrower, bishops less open)
Marcel Duchamp with the original set and me with my 2020 version
Now I'm having a go at printing a version on a cheapo 3D printer — with, shall we say, mixed quality results...
Having finished the set during cv19 lockdown, it was frustrating to have no one to play on it with.
With hope in my heart, I took it to Dalry Cemetery one sunny day, as most people there stay six feet away,
and was lucky enough to meet this keen player.
I think I was lucky to get a draw; he says he'll be back...
The images get everywhere ...
... here's Anna Freemantle, (coincidentally) dressed as the black queen at a Noir! fashion show
CLICK HERE for pics of the original set:
Ernst playing Dorothea Tanning, the white pieces and Duchamp with the set.
Here is Duchamp playing a naked Eva Babitz
in front of his Large Glass at the 1963 Pasadena retrospective of his work.
I thought that was rather sexist*, so with heartfelt thanks to Natasha Staples,
here is my own 2010 answer to that picture ...
(I was pleased to hear that, in the 2010 display of the set and photos
at the Scottish Arts Club,
an elderly woman was heard to exclaim, on looking at the above photo,
"I say — who is that disgusting young man?!")
next plan —— make a short film of myself
dressed in black and white suits playing a seven move fool's mate game
at locations between Edinburgh Airport and Leith Docks (I need an accomplice/acolyte).
Watch this space!
[*Apparently Babitz wanted to do this to get back at an ex-boyfriend; she went on to become a successful writer]
