Chess Players, Benjamin Vautier

Artwork Overview

Benjamin Vautier, Chess Players
Benjamin Vautier, Chess Players
Benjamin Vautier
Chess Players
1874
Chess Players, 1874
Where object was made: Germany
Material/technique: oil; canvas
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 56.2 x 69.2 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 22 1/8 x 27 1/4 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 27 1/2 x 33 in
Credit line: Gift of the Max Kade Foundation
Accession number: 1975.0058
Not on display
Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label: "Corpus," Apr-2012, Kris Ercums Two men are playing chess in a comfortable interior, although neither one is focused on the game. The layman at right in velvet cap and bow tie concentrates on lighting his long pipe, while the priest appears distracted by reading the newspaper. Two reclining cats flank the priest, adding to the mood and details of the scene. The priest reveals his impatience with the stalled game, however - a vice for a clergyman -by drumming his fingers on the table, awaiting the next move. Detailed genre paintings such as this one portray motifs from the private and social world of the rising bourgeois society, which was eager to see its own taste and values depicted in paintings. This object reveals an interest in social status and appearances, which the artist may or may not be satirizing.