Phillips launches deluxe edition of Alexander Calder chess set

Phillips Dropshop has announced the launch of the first deluxe edition of the chess set designed by Alexander Calder, made in collaboration with Cahiers d’Art and the Calder Foundation. The limited edition is produced in only 750 pieces and faithfully reproduces the 1944 original thanks to high-resolution 3-D scans and painstaking solid wood workmanship. The set keeps intact the proportions, texture, and spirit of the original work, which Calder conceived for the exhibition The Imagery of Chess, organized by Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York.

Each set is accompanied by two inkjet prints from the Chess series Knightmares, offering a glimpse into the artist’s ironic and innovative approach to the game of chess. Calder challenged the game’s traditional visual language: the queens are elevated by one head above the kings, while four larger horses with elongated snouts interrupt the board, drawing attention and suggesting a new symbolic hierarchy. The color of the pieces breaks the black-white tradition, with vibrant red and blue, while the case is deep yellow.

From Feb. 3 to 7, the public will be able to play chess using one of the limited-edition sets in Phillips Galleries in New York. A second set will be on display in the Phillips galleries in London from Feb. 6-24, allowing visitors to take a closer look at the detail and accuracy of the reproduction.

“Calder’s chess set represents a rare fusion of his formal thinking and everyday life,” said Christine Miele, e-commerce retail sales director at Phillips. "Offering the deluxe edition of a set that the artist personally lived and played with has profound significance for Dropshop, which is only possible through the collaboration between Cahiers d’Art and the Calder Foundation. This edition brings a historic, museum-level work directly into the homes of fans, allowing them to use and appreciate it as Calder conceived it. We see this Drop as an important contribution to thinking about how collectors today interact with postwar masters, and we are thrilled to offer an edition that fully conveys the artist’s intent and spirit."

“In addition to great works of art, my grandfather’s homes were filled with many practical tools he created,” said Alexander S.C. Rower, Calder Foundation president. “Among them was his fascinating chess set. Calder had planned to make a multiple version of this set, and it gives me great pleasure to shape his intention today, making it available to art and chess lovers alike.”

“Our most recent collaboration with the Calder Foundation gives concrete form to a long tradition of artistic friendship and shared vision between the artist and Cahiers d’Art,” said Staffan Ahrenberg, publisher of Cahiers d’Art .“It thus continues Cahiers d’Art’s mission to bring timeless works into contemporary life, uniting art, design and play in a dialogue that remains more alive today than ever before.”

Phillips launches deluxe edition of Alexander Calder chess set

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