THE CHESS PLAYERS blog #4

Three men play chess in a dark room with neutral black and warm red colors. The painting gives an illusion of photograph where men seem immersed into a game: two men sitting, the players, and one man standing above and observing the match. The flooring appears to show nuances of red; its pattern may represent the leaves of equal sizes. The furniture fulfills the walls and just like the floor it’s another nuance of red; it greatly blends with the carpet and achieves a monochromatic success. 

Besides the predominant colors of red, the painting gives us a calm notion since the chess table (chess as well) is the centerpiece, the foreground, and horizontal. Some might argue that some of the furniture in the background standing more vertically gives a sense of seriousness, but I would claim it’s all of square lines and shapes, matching the table perfectly.  However, the black clothing does give a notch of grimmer tone. Relaxed and minding its own business while attending its hair, the cat is black as well. The second painting on the wall is in sync with the table. This is a wealthy house, with every inch of its interior taken care of. A small decanter with maybe a sherry and small port-wine glasses placed on a small upright serving side desk positioned next to the players confirms the high standard of the possible mansion. Large, with fabric and sophisticated hand-made finish, the chairs furthermore continue to build our imagination with luxury. The final finish of the painting is very coarse. We feel we can not only touch everything in this painting, but smell the polished furniture too. Overall, all the colors overlap and blend beautifully. Even without the knowledge of the time of this art we can conclude the time of the theme: classical furniture with influence of baroque, with its rich shapes, but softened with a modern approach at the end of the 19th century. The men are dressed in robes that remanence Abraham Lincoln, but not so tight and without a hat - moving towards more casual era of modern times: less horse rides and more of the newest inventions: cars. It’s another day in a mansion, or a club for gentlemen. Or is it? There is a clock below the other painting. Is the message of the painting about making decisions while the time is running out? Or maybe it’s a reflexion of the world and thinkers who observe it. The black cat, a symbol for witch, might have yet another hidden interpretation. 

When reading about the painting it turned out I was only a slightly off about time: it was made in 1876, by Thomas Eakins. The painting is oil on wood. But I was off when having an impression of baroque while it represents renaissance. The painting allegedly has a simple meaning where the artist painted his father watching the game of his friends. Wikipedia added a great description about the chess and figures where black and white queens are in a final stage in battle. It also goes on with Oedipal complex theory, but let's leave this for another time to debate. Even though I am an annual financial contributor to wikipedia, I take every information with caution; especially for academic purposes.

"Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important artists in American art history. He was a man of great character. He was a man of iron will and his will to paint and to carry out his life as he thought it should go. This he did. It cost him heavily but in his works we have the precious result of his independence, his generous heart and his big mind. Eakins was a deep student of life, and with a great love he studied humanity frankly. He was not afraid of what his study revealed to him" (Wikipedia).

The curious fact is that in 1881 this was the first painting accepted by MET museum as a gift from a living artist. (Found online at MET's website)