Marcel Duchamp’s interest in chess is well-known: a self-described “chess maniac,” he played intensely, competed in tournaments, and carved his own set. At times, he absented himself from art to play chess almost exclusively; he encoded messages in his artworks that can only be understood by chess players.

Now come two new entries on the subject that shed more light on the obsession. On May 6, the St. Louis University Museum of Art opened “Marcel Duchamp: Chess Master,” which attempts to “experience” his career “through the lens of his intense involvement with the royal game.” It features many of his works, like Trebuchet, the coat rack he nailed to his studio floor referencing a chess position, as well as chess-related works by other Dada and Surrealist artists, including Man Ray, Max Ernst, and Salvador Dali. Smartly, the show’s opening coincided with the United States Chess Championship in St. Louis. (Talk about new audiences: chess players around the world number in the hundreds of millions.)

Here’s a link to the show and, since I have not seen it, to an article on the show and to a blog item on a panel held at the St Louis Chess Club, both from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

I was tipped off to all of this by Francis Naumann, the Dada/Surrealism expert who spoke at the St. Louis panel. He’ll be bringing the exhibition to his New York gallery on Sept. 10. And he and the exhibition’s curator are just out with a new book on the subject, Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess. 

[Read more…] about Duchamp’s Chess Obsession: A Show, A Book, and More

The National Gallery of Art rarely deaccessions works (other than duplicate prints), but — in settlement of a lawsuit — it has just agreed to transfer the ownership of a painting on view there, Chaim Soutine’s Piece of Beef, to the family of a prior owner. In return, the NGA will receive payment, which spokeswoman Deborah Ziska described in an email to me as “more …than it paid for it.” 

The suit was brought by the estate of Lorette Jolles Shefner of Montreal against the National Gallery and Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow, the authors of the Soutine catalogue raisonné, about a year ago. It accused the men of “tricking her into selling the 1923 painting for $1 million — below market value — and then reselling it for twice the amount to the museum in 2004,” according to the Associated Press. The suit also said the museum should have investigated how the two men came to own the artwork.

Ownership of the painting will now be returned to the Shefner Family, which has agreed, however, to leave the painting on view at the NGA “for the near future.” U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain, of the Southern District of New York, approved the settlement last week.

Piece of Beef  is part of an important series of carcasses painted by Soutine. The family contended that the experts should have told Ms. Shefner that comparable works by Soutine had sold for much more than she accepted for the work.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Edelman Financial

Don’t miss this article, in today’s Wall Street Journal: Changing the Art on the White House Walls. It’s a terrific roundup of what’s in and what’s out at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Here’s a key paragraph:

The Obamas are sending ripples through the art world as they put the call out to museums, galleries and private collectors that they’d like to borrow modern art by African-American, Asian, Hispanic and female artists for the White House. In a sharp departure from the 19th-century still lifes, pastorals and portraits that dominate the White House’s public rooms, they are choosing bold, abstract art works.

The White House is borrowing works from the National Gallery and the Hirshhorn, including a terrific Diebenkorn.

The story comes with a video and an interactive graphic on art at the White House through the years — though I’m not sure whether or not non-subscribers can access them. Give it a try.

This was, unofficially at least, American art week in New York. The sales at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s were unexceptional, and so was most of the art. The tallies:

• Sotheby’s sale totaled $15.3 million, with 62% sold by lot, 73% sold by value
• Christie’s, $16.8 million, with 62% sold by lot, 70% by value.

Christie’s sales report touts three “world records for the artist,” but on examination, they were tiny, all below $80,000. The artists were Charles E. Humphriss, Edwin Willard Deming and Eric Pape. Top lot was Milton Avery’s Sketching By the Sea, which fetched $2.2 million.

Sotheby’s had a more interesting “world record for the artist” — Harriet Whitney Frismuth”s bronze The Vine (left), which had been estimated at $400,000 to $600,000 and ended up bringing $962,500 including the premium (which is never in the estimate).

The Vine, in a much larger version, is also on the front page of the New York Times Weekend (Fine Arts/Leisure) section today, illustrating Holland Cotter’s review of the Metropolitan Museum’s renovated American Wing.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Sotheby’s

Somehow this escaped everyone’s notice: MacDowell Colony* has named Kiki Smith as the recipient of the 50th Edward MacDowell Medal — which she’ll receive on Aug. 9.

MacDowell is the oldest U.S. artists’ residency program, with beautiful grounds near Peterborough, N.H., which was the model for Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” It rotates the annual medal among disciplines — last year was the turn for achitecture, and the medal went to Thom Mayne.

Among the previous visual arts winners are Alexander Calder, Edward Hopper, Louise Nevelson, Ellsworth Kelly and Louise Bourgeois. This year’s selection committee was headed by Joan Simon, a curator at the Whitney Museum. The panel cited Smith as a “leading figure among artists addressing the philosophical, social and spiritual aspects of human nature.”

The press release is here.

A long time ago, I wrote about creativity at artists’ colonies for the New York Times. Here’s the link. 

* Disclosure: As a consultant, I have helped direct money to MacDowell, but have no influence on the choice of the MacDowell Medalist.