Calder: Chess Knightmares

Chess Knightmares is a cycle of nearly four dozen unbridled drawings by Calder of wild chess scenarios. Bawdy female knights, conspiring bishops, and misbehaving queens engage clueless rooks, lewd pawns, and mating kings.

Chess Knightmares, the cycle of nearly four dozen frequently savage and sometimes downright salacious drawings that Alexander Calder dedicated to the game in 1944. They unleash an otherwise regulated game into frenzied conflicts of immorality, with executions and sexual mishaps Calder’s King, Queen, Knights, Bishops, Rooks, and Pawns don’t give a damn about the rules. They’ve kicked off all constraints. They move any way they like. They pose, preen, and prance across the chess board, giddily engaging in gossip, backstabbing, sex acts, mayhem, even murder. Marcel Duchamp, who was passionate about the game, added alternate titles to many of Calder drawings.