Artful chess pieces
An avid chess player himself, photographer and artist Man Ray designed a custom chess board complete with pieces in 1920. The design combines classical geometry with an imaginative design.
Symbolic figures for bishop, queen and co.
The shapes of the pieces have a symbolic, iconic value and only reveal their meaning at second glance. The queen is represented by a cone, which is 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 for royal rule. The runner (bishop in English) is associated with the preparation of exotic liquors and spirits of a bishop and requires a jug for this purpose.
As a Dadaist, Man Ray breaks the logical sequence of the figures with the seemingly arbitrary shape of the snail, which is used to represent the runner. Based on the Fibonacci sequence, which is directly related to the golden section, the shape of the snail is based on pure geometry and thus in turn blends harmoniously into the overall picture of the artfully designed chess set.
Creative chess pieces & Solid chess board
The Man Ray chess set consists of 32 pieces and a separately available solid chess board .
