Marcel Duchamp's Chess Obsession: From Dali to the Final Move

Marcel Duchamp's lifelong passion for chess is explored through photographs, performances, and his artistic legacy. A 1966 photo by Robert Descharnes captures Duchamp and Salvador Dalí playing chess on a set reminiscent of Duchamp's 'The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even' (The Large Glass), taken from a low angle. In 1968, Duchamp performed 'Reunion' at Ryerson Theatre in Toronto, playing chess with John Cage on a modified board that triggered compositions by Gordon Mumma, David Behrman, David Tudor, and Lowell Cross; it was his last public appearance before his death later that year. Julian Wasser's 1963 photo 'Duchamp Playing Chess with a Nude (Eve Babitz)' shows Duchamp playing against a nude woman, a logical short circuit between nudity and chess. Duchamp temporarily abandoned art between the world wars to focus on chess, participating in tournaments and designing the wooden set 'L'Échiquier du Narcisse' in 1920. His 1925 game against International Master David Janowski at the Nice Tournament was noted for audacious moves. Duchamp considered chess a purer art form, stating: 'They cannot be commercialized and are more pure than art in their social position.' His final artwork, 'Étant donnés,' completed in 1966, was kept secret for twenty years, known only to his wife Teeny. The article also references other artists who shared the chess affinity, including Man Ray, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, and Joan Miró.