Alexander Calder Chess Set by Cahiers d'Art

“While all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”  — Marcel Duchamp

Deluxe Edition of 750

This edition, published by Cahiers d’Art in collaboration with the Calder Foundation, faithfully recreates Calder’s most sculptural and iconic chess set — a true collector’s piece for art, design, and chess enthusiasts.  

In 1944, Alexander Calder created an original chess set for The Imagery of Chess, a groundbreaking exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. Of the three sets he would design in the 1940s, this was the one Calder kept for play in his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. 

Calder's set challenges tradition: the queen is larger than the king, reflecting his belief in matriarchal values and in balanced relationships where women guide men. An oversized knight disrupts the board, inviting deeper attention - both to the game and to life. And rather than black and white, Calder used red and blue, rejecting notions of binary opposition or built-in superiority.  

Each piece in this Calder Chess Set has been faithfully recreated from detailed 3D scans of the original and precisely milled from solid wood, preserving the texture, scale, and spirit of Calder’s handmade work.

This inaugural release of 750 chess sets will additionally be accompanied by a set of two inkjet prints of Calder’s original Chess Knightmares drawings from 1944.

- Painted wood chess set comprised of 32 pieces, board, and yellow tray
- Smallest piece: 2 3/8 in. tall
- Largest piece: 5 1/4 in. tall
- Board: 17 3/4 x 18 1/8 x 3/8 in.
- Presentation box: 20 x 20 x 10 in.
- Prints: 14 1/8 x 14 1/8 in.


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No Discounts apply