Chess as Art: From 7th-Century Samarkand to Zaha Hadid
Chess Atlas
A visual timeline of chess set design spanning more than a millennium, organized by material: ivory and bone, wood, ceramic, metal, crystal, and conceptual works. It traces the evolution from the abstract Afrasiab pieces and the Lewis Chessmen through Nathaniel Cook's 1849 Staunton standard to modernist and artist-designed sets by Man Ray, Josef Hartwig, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, Yoko Ono, Damien Hirst, and Zaha Hadid.
Chess as art object. Duchamp quit art for chess. Dalí cast surreal fingers. Yoko Ono made both sides white.