Sketch for "Checkmate"

E. McKnight Kauffer American

Not on view

Kauffer spent the majority of his successful career working as a commercial artist in England, creating advertising posters that reflected his interest in Cubism, Italian Futurism, and Vorticism, a British art movement with affinities to Cubist abstraction and Futurism’s radical embrace of the machine. This work is one of Kauffer’s designs for "Checkmate," a ballet by Arthur Bliss. It shows a white hand or glove-like form in the center of the composition holding what appears to be a piece of fabric that turns from black to red. A two-toned, light-blue and black background accentuates the design’s graphic and dimensional effect.

Sketch for "Checkmate", E. McKnight Kauffer (American, Great Falls, Montana 1890–1954 New York), Gouache on paper

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