Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess

Dada & Surrealist Chess Art

Larry List editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Hirmer Verlag

Published:7th Aug '25

Should be back in stock very soon

Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess cover

Authorised by The Man Ray Trust, Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess, is the first and only book on Man Ray’s chess-themed works in all media. With experience in studio art, chess, photography, cartography, prototyping and scholarly research, the author offers a comprehensive interpretation of when, how, and why Man Ray created these timeless works.

Man Ray’s chess set designs are as sought after as his innovative photography, collected by everyone from the Maharajah of Indore to Igor Stravinsky, Artie Shaw and David Bowie. Today, Man Ray’s chess-themed works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Georges Pompidou, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and numerous other institutions, as well as being highly prized by private collectors the world over.

'Artist Man Ray combined flashes of inspiration with methodical application. No wonder that he was drawn to the game of chess, which demands both. It was Larry List's inspired idea to investigate the chess-related aspects of Man Ray's multifaceted career, and he has plumbed the subject with a thoroughness worthy of the master, giving us many enlightening—and entertaining—insights.' - ARTHUR LUBOW, contributor to the New York Times and the New Yorker, author of Man Ray: The Artist and His Shadows
'Larry List is the chess grandmaster of Man Ray studies, and Permanent Attraction is jam-packed with championship-level scholarship.' - MARK POLIZZOTTI, author of Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton and Why Surrealism Matters
'Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this book fills the last remaining gap in Man Ray scholarship. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of modern art and chess.' - MICHAEL R. TAYLOR, Artistic Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Curator of Man Ray: The Paris Years, and Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés

ISBN: 9783777444475

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 1180g

264 pages