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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1982

  • Work on this object began.

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Film, Checkmate

This is a Film. It was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer and music composed by Arthur Bliss and production directed by Ninette de Valois. It is dated 1982. Its medium is film, 41:00. It is a part of the department.


In 1937, the British Council chose Checkmate to represent the best of British modern art and culture at the International Exhibition in Paris, and the production continued to travel. The outbreak of war interrupted this tour, forcing the company to return to England in 1940 and abandon the costumes and sets. Kauffer redesigned them for a revival in London in 1947. Checkmate has since been staged around the world and is still produced today.

It is credited Courtesy of Video Artists International.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805206/ |title=Film, Checkmate |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=6 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>