George Boisgontier und Arman Lot n° 657

(1931 Bordeaux - 2019 Vence? or 1928 Nice - 2005 New York) Oversized chess set "Double Gambit". Original title Bronze. Chessboard made of white and black marble tiles. Designed by Arman and George Boisgontier, 1986. limited edition of 5 copies plus 2 "EA" copies. The present lot is "EA 1/2". Besides this monumental version, there was a small version in an edition of 75 copies. This chess set was created jointly in artistic collaboration between the French-American object artist and co-founder of Nouveau Realisme - Arman - and the French sculptor George Boisgontier. Each of the artists designed 16 figures depicting stylized stringed instruments in varying degrees of cubist abstraction or surrealism. Arman's figures express his passion for sensual, feminine forms of stringed instruments, which were a central motif of his oeuvre from the 1960s onward, as he frequently smashed, burned, and sawed violins and double basses to pieces. In contrast, Boisgontier's tightly abstracted figures are transformed, as it were, by their archaic, geometric forms into modern idols full of symbolism. For the artists, the chess game is at the same time an allegory of life: as a figure dominated by nature and his own contradictory feelings, man is constantly under control. Works by Arman, who was represented at the Documenta exhibitions in Kassel in 1964, 1968 and 1977, can be found in the MoMA in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington and the Tate Gallery in London, among others. Chessboard ca. 244 cm x 244 cm; figures h. ca. 26 cm-52 cm, w. ca. 19 cm-21 cm, d. ca. 10 cm-28 cm. Attached: Certificate of authenticity by George Boisgontier, signed by both artists. A large chess set of 32 bronze figures and a chess board consisting of black and white marble tiles. From the limited edition of 5 + 2 EA. The present lot is EA 1/2. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from George Boisgontier, signed by both artists.