CHESS PRACTICE
Updated: November 2008
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Peter BLAKE thanks
Marcel DUCHAMP
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British
artist Sir Peter Blake recently recreated the famous chess game
between his hero Marcel Duchamp and nude model Eve Babitz. This
time artists' model Carol Holt played the nude opponent.
«The
idea of it is to give [Duchamp] a kind of posthumous thank you. He
opened the door that so many of us went through, the door of
possibility, by saying anything an artist makes is art.» – Sir
Peter Blake
It
was prior to a major Sotheby’s auction in London. The actual
wooden chessboard, created by Duchamp in New York in 1946 and
immortalised in the game at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1963, was
on sale and Sotheby's estimated it would sell for between £180,000
and £250,000. Here is the famous original:
«Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz pose
for the photographer Julian Wasser
during the Duchamp retrospective at
the Pasadena Museum of Art, 1963 -
Image Copyright © 2000 Succession
Marcel Duchamp, ARS, N.Y./ADAGP, Paris»
Blake
also relates very strongly with Duchamp via a recent series of
canvases: his series Marcel Duchamp’s World Tour has been included
in recent exhibitions of his work.
«"Playing Chess with Tracey" - (2003-5) -
Courtesy Waddington Galleries, London
© Peter Blake 2007 All rights reserved DACS»
Duchamp
plays chess with artist Tracey Emin in the desert surroundings
of her video self-portrait 'Sometimes...' (2000) while three
enigmatic cowboys wait by the bus. This has been said of Blake
as an artist (The Observer, June 2007): …Perhaps because of his
reliance on copying rather than invention, and his refusal to
paint from life, some critics feel Blake is a graphic designer
rather than a 'real' artist. He counters with a quote from his
hero, Marcel Duchamp, who said:
«Anything an artist makes is art» (Marcel Duchamp)
But
also explains, 'When I was at art school, I wanted to be a
painter and the staff said, "You can never make a living as
a painter - do the graphic design course." So I did that,
then applied for the Royal College as a graphic designer,
but I also sent one painting and Robin Darwin, who was the
rector then, saw it and referred me to the painting school
and they accepted me. So I have this odd history that I was
actually trained as a graphic designer - and I still do a
lot of commercial art. I mean, yesterday I was doing a book
jacket. I think it's OK, but there are people who think less
of me for that.'
«"An example of Blake's graphic art
(left picture) - Lewis Carroll’s Alice
in Wonderland was also the inspi-
ration for these chess-set-like
sculptures: (right picture)»
Before
continuing, notice that Rrose Sélavy, or Rose Sélavy was one of
the pseudonyms of artist Marcel Duchamp. The name, a pun, sounds
like the French phrase "Eros, c'est la vie", which translates to
English as "eros, that's life". It has also been read as "arroser
la vie" ("to make a toast to life").
Sélavy
emerged in 1921 in a series of photographs by Man Ray
of Duchamp dressed as a woman. Through the 1920s Man Ray and
Duchamp collaborated on more photos of Sélavy. Duchamp later
used the name as the byline on written material and signed
several creations with it. Duchamp used the name in the
title of at least one sculpture, Why Not Sneeze Rrose Sélavy?
«Rrose Sélavy (Marcel Duchamp). 1921»
Photograph by Man Ray. Art Direction
by Marcel Duchamp. Silver print.
5-7/8" x 3"-7/8". Philadelphia
Museum of Art, Philadelphia (PA) USA.
Image no Copyrighted © Public domain
Other
'Duchamp' works (by Peter Blake) in the exhibition are: «He (Rrose
Selavy) meets the Spice Girls and Elvis» (2005)
«He (Rrose Selavy) meets
the Spice Girls and Elvis»
(2005) by Sir Peter Blake
Image © 2007 Sir Peter Blake
Waddinton Galleries, London (UK)
And:
«The Tarzan Family» (1995-2005)
«The Tarzan Family»
(1995-2005) by Sir Peter Blake
Image © 2007 Sir Peter Blake
Waddinton Galleries, London (UK)
Marcel
Duchamp’s World Tour is based on Blake’s belief that wherever
Marcel Duchamp stopped in the art world he had a strong effect
on it. Each painting follows a fantasy journey in which Marcel
Duchamp travels through unidentified places meeting other
artists (Damien Hirst, Pablo Picasso, Edward Hopper) and
popular idols (Tarzan, Elvis, Spice Girls). As he tours the
world in his rock 'n' roll bus, fantasy situations play out
around him.
In
‘The Artist’s Fancy Dress Ball’ Blake borrows well known images
from high art painted with naturalistic brilliance: Picasso,
dressed as Touchstone from Shakespeare’s ‘As you Like it’ and
taken from Johan Zoffany's late 18th Century portrait of Thomas
King leads the party, joined by Edward Hopper and Marcel
Duchamp dressed as figures from Picasso's 'Family of
Saltimbanques' with Damien Hirst as Watteau’s ‘Pierrot’.
«For the full set of Duchamp
Tour painting go to the
Waddington Galleries pages»
Image © 2007 Sir Peter Blake
Waddinton Galleries, London (UK)
“It's not a fake it's a Peter Blake
It's navy blue, it's crimson lake
It takes the cake and no mistake,
For goodness' sake take a
look at those Blakes”
(From the song “Peter the Painter” by his
pupil and friend, the late Ian Dury)
|
«Self Portrait with Badges' 2007»
Image © 2007 Sir Peter Blake
OPUS Art.com Website - Peter Blake Artist
A Peter BLAKE mini-biography
|
Born in Dartford, Kent, in 1932, and educated in Gravesend, where
he studies at the School of Art.
After National Service with the RAF, he trains at the Royal College
of Art, graduating in 1956. First exhibition is at the ICA in 1958
Becomes one of the first British pop artists, using pop-culture
ephemera such as logos, pin-ups and masked wrestlers in his paintings,
most famously 1961’s Self-Portrait with Badges
In 1963 marries fellow artist Jann Howarth, and soon after returns to
the RCA as a teacher. The collage techniques he develops are used to
their most famous effect on the 1967 album cover for Sgt Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band. Later provides the cover for the first Band
Aid single
Retreats to the countryside near Bath, and in 1975 founds the
Brotherhood of Ruralists with six other artists. The group, and his
marriage, break up in the early Eighties, and in 1987 he marries
Chrissy Wilson
In 2002 receives a knighthood to recognise his contribution to British
art. Is appointed professor of drawing at the Royal Academy in the
same year
Internal link:
«Chess-Theory Virtual Art Museum: Peter Blake Artwork»
© John E Hawkes - October 2007
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«Art world chess match recreated
Artist Sir Peter Blake has recreated
a famous chess game between surrealist
Marcel Duchamp and nude model
Eve Babitz ahead of a major auction.
© Copyright Photo: Sotheby's, London
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