THINGS WORTH WANTING / ART & PLAY
Man Ray’s Chess Set: When a Familiar Game Changes Shape
A familiar game becomes an experiment in how we recognize a shape.
By Dr. Robert Urban · Researched editorial feature · September 2026
A chess player should be able to recognize a threat without first solving a sculpture. Yet a chess set can also invite a second kind of attention: how little of a familiar form must remain before we still know what it means?
Man Ray’s geometric pieces sit inside that question. A pyramid stands for the king. A cone becomes the queen. The result is appealing as an arrangement of forms and as a challenge to a familiar visual vocabulary. The game has not changed, but the way a player reads it has.
That makes this set more interesting than another expensive version of standard pieces. Its strongest story concerns the relationship between an artist’s interpretation and a player’s recognition. This is a researched design feature about the contemporary wooden re-edition offered by MoMA Design Store, not a claim of firsthand play or handling.
An artist’s translation, not an antique purchase
MoMA Design Store dates the design to 1920 and describes the present pieces as made in Germany from solid beech wood. It identifies a silver-plated brass version from 1920–1926 in the museum’s collection. The contemporary wooden pieces offered for sale should not be confused with owning that museum object or an original work from the period.
The distinction is useful rather than deflating. A re-edition allows a person to live with a historical design in a way that a unique museum piece would not. Its value can come from the forms, their history and their place in everyday use, without an inflated claim about rarity.
MoMA describes the king as a pyramid, the queen as a cone, the bishop as a flagon, the rook as a cube and the pawn as a sphere. The knight takes the form of a violin finial. That last choice introduces a different rhythm among the more elementary shapes, giving the arrangement a particularly recognizable signature.
The set merits close looking. Compare the outline of each piece, the size relationships and the way repeated pawns make a visual field in front of the larger forms. The appeal is not only in isolated objects photographed against an empty background. It also appears in how those objects relate when the board is occupied.
Recognition is part of the equipment
In ordinary play, the piece is both an object and an instruction. Recognizing it tells a player something about how it can move and what it threatens. A change in shape therefore affects more than the decorative surface of the game.
A familiar silhouette can be recognized before a player consciously names it. With a new set, that recognition may require an extra step. The player sees a cone, recalls that the cone is the queen, then evaluates its role. With familiarity, the translation may become easier. How quickly that happens will vary between people.
That variation suggests a useful buying test. Arrange a middle-game position rather than inspecting only the opening lineup. In the opening position, location supplies clues about identity. Once the pieces are scattered, their forms have to do more of the work.
Ask both players to identify pieces from their normal seats. Check the view from each side and the contrast against both square colors. A set that is easy to read from above in a product photograph may feel different from a seated position among other pieces.
For casual, contemplative play, learning the artist’s vocabulary can be part of the pleasure. For a beginner already concentrating on how pieces move, or someone who wants effortless recognition during fast games, a familiar conventional set may be the more useful choice. That is a decision about purpose, not a judgment against the art.
The knight is the conversation
The knight’s violin-derived form creates an especially good point of entry. It interrupts the expectation that every piece will be reduced to a basic geometric solid. The set becomes an arrangement with variation, not simply an exercise in replacing every traditional shape with the simplest possible substitute.
That distinction matters in product design. Simplification is not automatically improvement. Removing familiar detail can clarify a shape, change its meaning or remove a useful cue. The designer’s decisions have to be considered one by one rather than praised under a general label of minimalism.
An imagined guest might recognize the set as sculpture before realizing it is playable. Another person might first ask which piece is the knight. Both responses can lead to a worthwhile conversation about form. The object gives the host something concrete to discuss, with enough substance to outlast a brand-name introduction.
For a gallery or design retailer, demonstrating these relationships would be more informative than relying on the artist’s reputation alone. Show the forms together. Explain which historical object is being referenced and what the current product actually is. Let the buyer decide whether the interpretation is something they want to live with.
Assemble the whole purchase
The pieces and board are separate listings at MoMA Design Store. Someone choosing the pieces as a gift should make sure the recipient will have a suitable board rather than assuming the photograph establishes what is included.
The matching board is listed as 17 inches square and three-quarters of an inch high, made from veneered wood with a wool felt bottom. Those are the board’s dimensions. The space needed for comfortable play extends beyond its edges.
Leave room for players’ hands, captured pieces and any clock or notation materials they intend to use. Check the surface under the board and the height of the seating. A beautiful display arrangement can become an awkward playing position if one person has to lean around a lamp or reach across the corner of a sofa.
If pairing the pieces with another board, test the actual arrangement. Square size, the pieces’ footprint and contrast all influence readability. Matching wood tones by eye is not enough to establish that a combination will feel balanced during play.
Ask the retailer about storage, replacement pieces and appropriate cleaning for the supplied materials. Those details are especially useful when the set will remain on display. The goal is to make ordinary care understandable so the owner can enjoy using the object.
Give the recipient a role in the choice
There are several plausible buyers for this set, and their standards may differ. An art enthusiast might value the design history most. A regular chess player might first evaluate recognition and handling. An interior designer might be thinking about the composition of a particular room.
A satisfying gift can serve more than one of those interests, but it should not assume they are identical. Someone who loves watching chess may have a strong preference for the equipment they use to play. Someone who enjoys modern art may be happy to display a set even if games are occasional.
Ask what the object is meant to do in that person’s life. This is a useful question precisely because it allows an honest answer. Display is a legitimate purpose. So is slow weekend play. The disappointment comes when the purchase is presented as perfect for a use nobody considered carefully.
For an office or hotel, decide whether guests are invited to play. If so, provide a suitable location and a simple way to learn the identities of unfamiliar pieces. If the set is an art display, describe it that way. Ambiguity about whether an object may be touched can undermine an otherwise welcoming room.
The second look
Man Ray’s set offers a particularly clear example of differentiation with consequences. Its distinctiveness can be seen immediately. The buyer also has to decide whether that distinctiveness improves or complicates the desired experience.
Within Things Worth Wanting, this set earns its place through the questions it makes visible. We recognize objects through conventions we often stop noticing. An artist can change those conventions enough to make us look again. On a chessboard, that second look has both aesthetic and practical consequences.