Draft:Larry List

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Larry List
Born1951 (age 73–74)
EducationTyler School of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New York University
Known forWriting & curating about Dada, Surrealism & chess-themed art

Larry List (born 1951) is an American artist, curator, and writer with interests in 20th century and contemporary art focusing on Dada, Surrealist, Fluxus and Appropriation as well as chess themed art and history. He holds a B.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art and an M.A. and M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison[1] as well as a Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts from New York University.

Studio Art

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Between 1978 and 1998 List exhibited his own paintings, drawings, and early electrostatic art in numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York at P.S. 1, the Alternative Museum, White Columns, The Clocktower and other venues.[2] List was a charter member of the International Society of Copier Artists, producing a body of color electrostatic art between 1975 and 1989.[3] In 1983-1984 he curated the exhibitions Annexed Text at P.S. 122 Gallery [4] and Found Language at Franklin Furnace Archive[5] in New York City. Both exhibitions presented works in all media made from appropriated text material. The latter exhibition was the first in New York to showcase work by William Pope.L, Jeanne Silverthorne, taped narrations by David Wojnarowicz as well as Grandmaster Flash’s early turntable mixes (as art) and the music and film collaborations of David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Bruce Connor.

Work Experience, Writing & Curating

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In addition to art history coursework at the Tyler School (Philadelphia and Rome) and University of Wisconsin, List’s early work experiences as a steel mill laborer, a welder, billboard painter, fine art edition printer, architectural and cartographic draftsman, graphic arts darkroom technician and builder of architectural and advertising models and prototypes [6] have informed his analysis and interpretation of artists’ creative processes.

Research and fabrication of museum replicas of lost artworks for the Noguchi Museum led to the guest curatorship/authorship of The Imagery of Chess Revisited (2005 – 2006)[7]. The show re-staged an important lost chapter of 1944 Surrealist history at Julien Levy Gallery. New York Times critic Robert Hughes summarized it as “thirty-two artists, (there are sixteen pieces to a side on a chessboard) were corralled to exchange takes on this durable game”[8] while List portrayed it to journalist Blake Eskin more like a wartime Manhattan Project for the arts. “It brought together all these people and gave them a short period of time and a big problem to solve. There was a critical mass that established a beach head for modernist design in chess sets and modern design in general.”[9]

List found the majority of the original art in the exhibition and executed replicas of documented, but lost works including chess sets by Isamu Noguchi, Andre Breton & Nicolas Calas, and Yves Tanguy, as well as chess table sculptures by Xanti Schawinsky and Xenia Cage. He also discovered an unknown, undocumented but playable musical score by composer John Cage hidden in plain sight embedded in the composer’s calligraphic painting, Chess Pieces. This was deemed the “most important discovery about Cage since his death…” by Margaret Leng Tan, performer- pianist and personal friend of the composer.[10]

In 2006 List was authorized by the Man Ray Trust [11] as a Research Specialist [12] to find and catalogue the artist’s chess-related works in all media, ultimately resulting in the publication of Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess[13] by Hirmer/ Verlag of Munich and New York in 2025. List has established the website domains manraychess.org and manraychess.com with which to eventually share further information concerning the work of Man Ray and other related artists.

Since 2006, List has lectured, curated, and contributed essays to projects in the United States and Europe, with work published in nine languages.[14] (See Selected Publications, Curatorial Work).

Selected Publications

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Permanent Attraction: Man Ray & Chess. With Foreword by Francis M. Naumann, New York & Munich: Hirmer/Verlag. 2025. pp. xiv – xv; 3 – 207.

“Jack Damer: Art & Life,” JACK DAMER: Prints, Drawings & Objects. With Thomas Cvikota. Chicago: TC Editions, Madison, Wisconsin: Distillery Design. 2025. pp. 10 – 83.

“Sherrie Levine: Take a Picture to Make a Picture.” Hong Kong Dominoes. Exhib. cat. New York: David Zwirner Books. (English and Chinese). 2021. pp. 27 – 32.

“Takako Saito: Play and Exchange.” TAKAKO SAITO: Dreams to Do. Exhib. cat. Siegen, Germany: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux, France: The Museum of Contemporary Art,. (English, German, and French) 2019. pp. 14 – 52.

“Jan Fabre: The Holy Anarchist of Antwerp’s Bloody Prayer Card Collage Drawings.” Jan Fabre: Oro Rosso. Exhib. cat. Museo di Capodimonte, Naples: Mondadori Electa S.p.A. Milan. (English and Italian) 2019. pp. 120 – 139.

“The Artist/Knight and the Game of Chess.” The Artist/Knight. Exhib. cat. Gaasbeck Castle: Belgium Hannibal Publishing. (English and Dutch) 2017. pp. 18 – 23.

“The 20th Century.” Masterworks: Rare and Beautiful Chess Sets of the World. New York: Agon, Ltd. The World Chess Championship, New York. 2016. pp. 180 – 200.

“Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Art, Science & Craft.” Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Natural Splendors from the Dr. George and Vivian Dean Collection. Exhib. cat. Saint. Louis, Missouri: World Chess Hall of Fame and Gallery. (print & web versions). 2016 -2017. pp. 4 – 23.

Man Ray & Sherrie Levine: A Dialogue Through Objects, Images & Ideas. Exhib. cat. With introduction by Marion Meyer. Brussels and Knokke, Belgium: Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery. 2015. pp. 2 – 51.

Cage & Kaino: Pieces and Performances. Exhib. cat. Saint. Louis, Missouri: World Chess Hall of Fame and Gallery. (print & web versions). 2014. pp. 3 – 11.

“SKIN TRADE: Eros, Identity, Beauty, Mortality.” SKIN TRADE. Exhib. cat. With introduction by Martha Wilson. New York: P.P.O.W. Gallery. (print & web versions). 2013. pp. 10 – 53.

Xanti Schawinsky: Beyond the Bauhaus, Faces of War. Exhib. cat. Co-written with Anke Kempkes. New York: Broadway 1602 Gallery. 2010. Unpaginated. https://cdn.contemporaryartlibrary.org/store/doc/4023/docfile/original-bf7cf6ccad8eb8ff36f6f71b22af5824.pdf.

"Chess As Art." Duchamp/Man Ray/Picabia. Exhib. cat. Jennifer Mundy, ed. London: The Tate Modern; Barcelona: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. 2008. (English & Spanish), 2008. pp. 132 – 143.

“Spinning & Cutting, Scratching & Burning: Glenn Kaino’s Origins, Creative Play and Production.” Transformer: The Work of Glenn Kaino. Pittsburgh: The Warhol Museum, and Berlin: Hatje Cantz. 2009. pp. 10 – 35.

“New Forms for a New Era,” and “An Interview With Yoko Ono.” Skaklist: 32 Pieces, The Art of Chess. Exhib. cat. Mark Sanders, ed. The Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland, (English and Icelandic), 2009; Prague: DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. (Czech, 2010). pp. 14 – 53; 134 – 137.

The Imagery of Chess Revisited. With Introduction by Ingrid Schaffner and essays by Paul B. Franklin & Lowell Cross, Julien Levy, Dorothea Tanning, Richard Filipowski, Jonathan Levy Bayer. New York: George Braziller and The Noguchi Museum. 2005. pp. x – xii; 15 – 136.

Found Language. Franklin Furnace Archive, New York. Exhib. cat. 1984. pp. 2 – 8.

“Some Thoughts on the Subject.” International Society of Copier Arts Quarterly. Louise Odes Neaderland, ed. Vol. I, # 4. New York. 1983. Unpaginated.

Selected Curatorial Work

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Since his initial 1983 curatorial effort, Appropriation, Duplication, Manipulation, a twelve-artist exhibition of early electrostatic copier and pre-personal computer digital art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, List has curated or co-curated a variety of projects ranging from historical to contemporary subjects. Among them are:

Skaklist: 32 Pieces, The Art of Chess, a survey of contemporary chess-related art by Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, Paul McCarthy, Barbara Kruger, Tom Friedman, and Mauricio Cattela co-curated with Mark Sanders and Julia Royse for Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland. 2009.[15]

Xanti Schawinsky: Beyond the Bauhaus, Faces of War, a thematic portrait series and photographs by Bauhaus/Black Mountain College artist not shown since 1940’s. Co-Curated with Anke Kempkes of Broadway 1602 Gallery, New York, 2010.[16]

Chess Masterpieces: Highlights from the Dr. George & Vivian Dean Collection, the inaugural exhibition of 30 exceptional chess sets and chess–related art from 700 C.E. – 1924 for the World Chess Hall of Fame and Gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri. 2011.[17]

SKIN TRADE, co-curated with Martha Wilson explored the use skin as a subject or metaphor by thirty-one contemporary artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, video and performance for P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York. 2013.[18]

Cage & Kaino: Pieces and Performances, which paired artworks, artifacts and rare live performance works of 20th-c. composer John Cage and contemporary multimedia artist Glenn Kaino for the World Chess Hall of Fame & Gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri. 2014.[19]

Man Ray & Sherrie Levine: A Dialogue Through Objects, Images & Ideas, for Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery of Brussels, Belgium which revealed the two artists’ shared interests and influences. 2015.[20]

Animal Vegetable Mineral: Natural Splendors from the Dr. George & Vivian Dean Chess Collection, inspired by the work of Carl Linnaeus and Denis Diderot, was an exhibition of exceptional chess–related art from 16th c. to 20th c. accompanied by the raw materials they were made from, natural specimens they were modeled after, and artisans’ tools with which they were made. World Chess Hall of Fame & Gallery. Saint Louis, Missouri. 2016 –2017.[21]

Master Planning & Exhibition Design

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List’s curatorial projects and work in 20th c. heavy industry led him to being hired by the Brooklyn Navy Yard as part of a three-person research and master planning team for a gut-rehab, build-out and exhibition design of their Building 92: History & Design Center, 2009 – 2011.[22] This project led to a consultant role for the gut-rehab and build-out of the World Chess Hall of Fame & Gallery,[23] Saint Louis, 2010 – 2011, for which he then curated and designed three exhibitions. (See Selected Curatorial Work)

Authorized Replica Editions

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List co-produced a limited edition of ten examples of the 1944 Noguchi Chess Set & Table for the Noguchi Museum in 2006 – 2007 and two authorized posthumous examples of Man Ray’s 1926 Silver Chess Set & Presentation Case with Douglas Polumbaum, LLC., 2008.

Working with AMEICO of New Milford, Connecticut, List consulted on production of open-ended editions of Man Ray’s 1920 Wood Chess Set, 2014; the Cy Endfield 1972 Chess Set & Presentation Case, 2022, and the 1944 Noguchi Chess Set and Board, 2023; authorized by the Man Ray Trust, Cy Endfield Estate, and Noguchi Museum, respectively. With AMEICO List also produced exhibition replicas of Alexander Calder’s 1944 Wood Chess Set, authorized by Cahiers d’ Art, Paris and The Calder Foundation for the exhibition Alexander Calder: Minimal/Maximal at Neue Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2021 – 2022.

Awards

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List has been awarded grants and support for his projects from New York Foundation for the Arts Fiscal Sponsorship (2023 -2026), The Missouri Arts Council, (2014), J.L. Foundation & Julien Levy Archive (2006 & 2024), the Dedalus Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts (2005), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1989), Creative Artists Public Service Grant of New York State (1983 – 1984) and a Knapp University-wide Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Professional Affiliations

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List is a member of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism, The Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association, Chess Collectors International, and The National Coalition of Independent Scholars.

Further reading

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Dreams, Demons, Madness. John D. Paoletti; “Foreword” by Gerard G. Neuman. Curated by Geno Rodriguez. New York: The Alternative Museum. Ex. Cat. 1983. pp. 3, 16 – 17.

Disinformation: The Manufacture of Consent. Title essay by Noam Chomsky. “Brainwashing Under Freedom,” Edward S. Herman. Curated by Geno Rodriguez. New York: The Alternative Museum. Ex. Cat. 1985. pp. 37, 58 – 59.

“Permanent Attraction: Art, Chess and Design.” Celia Rabinovitch conversation with Larry List, chess curator and writer. British Chess Magazine. Vol. 141. November 2021. London. https://britishchessmagazine.co.uk/ pp. 680 – 688.

BLDG 92: The Brooklyn Navy Yard Past, Present and Future. New York: Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. 2011.

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“Art of the Game: The Noguchi Museum Restages a Star-Studded Show.” Robert Hughes. The New York Times Style Magazine. Fall 2005. Pp. 110 – 116.

“The Plaster-Filled Eggshell Gambit: From Duchamp to Artists Today, The Strange Allure of the Chessboard.” Blake Eskin. New York Times. October 16, 2005. P. 34.

“Chess Artwork Captures a Piece of the Imagination.” Ariella Budick. NEWSDAY. December 30, 2005. P. b.2.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Larry-List/189687404

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo246015961.html




References

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  1. ^ “Permanent Attraction: Art, Chess and Design.” Celia Rabinovitch conversation with Larry List, chess curator and writer. British Chess Magazine. Vol. 141. November 2021. London. https://britishchessmagazine.co.uk/ pp. 681.
  2. ^ A short list includes: L. J. List: New Work. Ohio State University Gallery. Columbus, Ohio. 1980; Larry List: Special Project Room. P.S. 1. Winter, Ex. Cat. 1984; Dreams, Demons, Madness. Ex. Cat. 1983; Disinformation: The Manufacture of Consent. Ex. Cat. 1985 both at The Alternative Museum; Fragments, Parts, Wholes: The Body & Culture. Saul Ostrow, curator. White Columns. New York. 1985; Deconstruction and Representation. Curated by Marilu Knode. P.S. 122. 1985; Evil Empires. Curated by Fred Wilson. Longwood Arts Project, Bronx, New York. DATE; New Technology: New Art. Curated by Richard Torchia. Princeton Art Museum McCormick Hall. Princeton, New Jersey. DATE. Electrostatics Invitational. Wasmer Gallery, Ursuline College, Cleveland Ohio. 1984; PUBLIC MIRROR: Artists Against Racial Prejudice. The Clocktower, New York. 1990; Malcolm X: The Man – The Meaning. Curated by Will K. Wilkins. Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut. Ex. Cat. 1992.
  3. ^ Examples of his electrostatic and graphic artwork are in the collections of Smithsonian American Art Museum https://americanart.si.edu/artist/larry-list-2959; Art Institute of Chicago Museum https://www.artic.edu/artworks/48650/persian-faults-from-the-university-of-wisconsin-madison-print-seminar-march-1975-portfolio; Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin https://chazen.wisc.edu/collection/9292/persian-faults-from-the-portfolio-the-university/cp=2&search=Larry%20List Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/352053;
  4. ^ According to the announcement postcard for the show, the artists in Annexed Text held at P.S. 122 Gallery from November 5 – 26th, 1984, were Sharon Gilbert, Charles Lenoir, larry List, Nancy Spero, Richard Torchia and Larry Walczak.
  5. ^ https://franklinfurnace.org/publications/ 1984.
  6. ^ Armco Steel Corporation, 1969 & 1970; Pullman Standard Railroad Car Company, 1970; Butler Outdoor Advertising, all in Butler, Pennsylvania, 1971; Scuola Internazionale di Arte Grafica, Rome, Italy, 1972; Lakeside Studio, Lakeside, Michigan, 1974; John Grove, Architect, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, 1977; New York State Sea Grant Program, State University of New York, Albany, 1977- 1978; Independent work on the site and topography of the Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater model for the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1983-84; as well as artists Christo, 1981; Dennis Adams, 1985- 89; Fred Wilson, 1988; Dan Graham, 1992 and Richard Serra, 1994. Work for architects Richard Gluckman and I.M. Pei and Studio Associates, New York; advertising models and prototypes for Brooklyn ModelWorks throughout 1985 - 1995.
  7. ^ Noguchi Museum, New York 10/21/2005 – 3/5/2006; Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, 9/8/2006 – 1/7/2007 For a more complete description of the exhibition and its genesis see “Permanent Attraction: Art, Chess and Design.” Celia Rabinovitch conversation with Larry List, chess curator and writer. British Chess Magazine. Vol. 141. November 2021. London. https://britishchessmagazine.co.uk/ pp. 681 – 683.
  8. ^ “Art of the Game: The Noguchi Museum Restages a Star-Studded Show.” Robert Hughes. The New York Times Style Magazine. Fall 2005. Pp. 110 – 116.
  9. ^ “The Plaster-Filled Eggshell Gambit: From Duchamp to Artists Today, The Strange Allure of the Chessboard.” Blake Eskin. New York Times. October 16, 2005. P. 34.
  10. ^ Telephone exchange between List and Tan, Fall, 2004. This discovery resulted in Chess & Surrealism: Movies & Music, a weekend of silent Surrealist chess films at Anthology Film Archive February 18 – 19, 2006 featuring a world premiere of Chess Pieces by Tan. A CD and a DVD John Cage: Chess Pieces, Sonatas & Interludes and Chess Serenade ID #MODE 158, with extended interviews with Margaret Leng Tan and List were produced by Brian Brandt of MODE Records with funds from the J. L. Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Art.
  11. ^ http://www.manraytrust.com/
  12. ^ Letter of April 12, 2006 on Man Ray Trust letterhead signed by Eric Browner, Legal Administrator of the Man Ray Trust.
  13. ^ https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo246015961.html https://www.hirmerverlag.de/uk/titel-88-3/permanent_attraction_man_ray_und_chess-2656/
  14. ^ Chinese, Czechoslovakian, Dutch, English, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, and Spanish
  15. ^ “New Forms for a New Era,” and “An Interview With Yoko Ono.” Skaklist: 32 Pieces, The Art of Chess. Exhib. cat. Mark Sanders, ed. The Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland, (English and Icelandic), 2009; DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, (Czech, 2010).
  16. ^ Xanti Schawinsky: Beyond the Bauhaus, Faces of War. Exhib. cat. Co-written with Anke Kempkes. Broadway 1602 Gallery, New York. 2010. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/broadway-1602-venturesome-new-york-gallery-closes-12-year-run-9737/
  17. ^ Chess Masterpieces: Highlights from the Dr. George & Vivian Dean Collection. Ex. Cat. World Chess Hall of Fame and Gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri. 2011. https://worldchesshof.org/program/2011-09-09-chess-masterpieces-highlights-from-the-dr-george-and-vivian-dean-collection/
  18. ^ “SKIN TRADE: Eros, Identity, Beauty, Mortality.” SKIN TRADE. Exhib. cat. With introduction by Martha Wilson. P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York. (print & web versions). 2013. https://www.ppowgallery.com/exhibitions/skin-trade-an-in-depth-look-at-the-surface-of-things#tab:slideshow
  19. ^ Cage & Kaino: Pieces and Performances. Exhib. cat. World Chess Hall of Fame and Gallery. St. Louis, Missouri. (print & web versions). 2014. https://worldchesshof.org/program/2014-05-08-cage-kaino-pieces-and-performances/
  20. ^ Man Ray & Sherrie Levine: A Dialogue Through Objects, Images & Ideas. Exhib. cat. With introduction by Marion Meyer. Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery. Brussels and Knokke, Belgium. 2015. https://maruanimercier.com/exhibitions/75-man-ray-sherrie-levine/
  21. ^ “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Art, Science & Craft.” Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Natural Splendors from the Dr. George and Vivian Dean Collection. Exhib. cat. World Chess Hall of Fame and Gallery. St. Louis, Missouri. (print & web versions). 2016 -2017. https://worldchesshof.org/program/2016-09-29-animal-vegetable-mineral-natural-splendors-from-the-chess-collection-of-dr-george-vivian-dean/
  22. ^ https://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations/bldg-92-brooklyn-navy-yard-center/ The research of List and planner/partner Mary Panzer provided the content for the publication BLDG 92: The Brooklyn Navy Yard Past, Present and Future.
  23. ^ https://worldchesshof.org/