Artful chess pieces
Being a passionate chess player himself, the photographer and artist Man Ray designed an individual chessboard with pawns in 1920. Its design combines classical geometry with an imaginative design.
Symbolic figures for bishops, the queen and co.
The shapes of the characters have an iconic, symbolic value, and reveal their importance only at second glance. The Queen is represented by a cone, which reflects the classic shape of a medieval headdress for a Regent.
The King in turn is represented in the form of a pyramid - the Egyptian symbol of Royal ruler. The Bishop is associated with the preparation of exotic liqueurs and spirits and therefor needs a pitcher.
Being a Dadaist, Man Ray broke the logical sequence of the characters with the seemingly arbitrary shape of the screw, which is used as a representative for a bishop. Based on the Fibonacci sequence that is in direct relation to the golden ratio, the shape of the screw is based on pure geometry and therefore results in a harmoniously designed piece for the overall picture of the artful chess set.
Creative chess pieces & solid chess board
The chess set by Man Ray consists of game pawns and a separately available solid Chessboard .