Chessboard by Germaine Richier

 One of my favorite works at Tate Modern London was the Chessboard (pictures below). They are five plaster figures that have been sculpted and painted and installed on free-standing plaster supports. The figures combine aspects of both humans and animals and are semi-abstracted.

The artist, Germaine Richier, wanted to depict the subject of the chess game and its parts in this artwork. The stumpy supports of the little figures were converted into much taller individual bases of different heights on a larger scale, giving the figurines a greater sense of potential motion. 

The King, the Queen, the Bishop, the Knight, and the Castle are the five main chess pieces found on the Chessboard. The Castle is the only piece that has three legs and is the most abstract of the figures. Each one of the chess pieces is a roughly humanoid figure that stands on two legs. The Castle's body is a long collection of horizontal and vertical surfaces that rise upward in the form of four stick-like protruberances with bulbous ends.

 Germaine Richier is one of my favorite artists. I think her work is fantastic and truly distinctive. Each artwork she creates tells a narrative and is incredibly creative.