LACMA

ShopMembershipMyLACMATickets
LACMA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
info@lacma.org
(323) 857-6000
Sign up to receive emails
Subscribe
© Museum Associates 2026
  • About LACMA
  • Jobs
  • Building LACMA
  • Host An Event
  • Unframed
  • Press
  • FAQs
  • Log in to MyLACMA
  • Privacy Policy
© Museum Associates 2026
Collections

Man Ray
Chess Set1947

Not on view
Wooden chess set with modernist abstract pieces in honey-yellow and walnut brown, arranged on a reddish-brown and cream board viewed from above at a diagonal
Wooden chess set with board, featuring two contrasting sets of pieces in light and dark-stained wood with simplified, abstract turned forms; pieces arranged in starting positions on a red and cream checkered board.

Man Ray, Chess Set, 1947, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Herbert R. Cole Collection, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Man Ray
United States, 1890–1976, also active France
Title
Chess Set
Place Made
United States
Date Made
1947
Medium
Masonite board with wooden playing pieces
Dimensions
Board: 18 x 18 in. (45.72 x 45.72 cm); Each pieces: 2 1/2 x 1 in.( 6.35 x 2.54 cm)
Credit Line
Herbert R. Cole Collection
Accession Number
M.84.31.479-.511
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
Modern Art
Selected Bibliography
  • Langsner, Jules. Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Man Ray Exhibition Catalog. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. 1966.
  • Benson, Timothy O. Hans Richter: Encounters. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013.
  • List, Larry. Permanent Attractions: Man Ray and Chess: Dada and Surrealist Chess Art. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2025.
Copyright
© Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris

Related Unframed

Artists on Art: Paul Mpagi Sepuya on Lorna Simpson
Artists on Art: Paul Mpagi Sepuya on Lorna Simpson
  • January 3, 2019
  • Anastasia Pahules