Designed by Man Ray (1890-1976) American Chess Set, Designed 1944; made 1945, Natural and ebonized birch King size: 3 1⁄2 in. The Surrealist artist and experimental photographer Man Ray contributed several works of art to The Imagery of Chess. As an enthusiastic chess player, Man Ray had been creating chess sets, as well as chess-themed paintings, drawings, and photographs, for decades prior to the 1944 exhibition at the Levy Gallery. This particular set is a variation on the iconic set he designed between 1920 and 1924, which consisted of pieces inspired by basic geometric forms, including the cube, sphere, pyramid, and cone. [https://worldchesshof.org/exhibit/designing-chessmen-taste-imagery-chess]