Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess - Larry List

“Dada & Surrealist Chess Art”

Authorized 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 Indor 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.

"Larry List is the chess grand master 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 André 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, Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés, and Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective.