"Dinosaurs Chess" Lithograph by Deborah Garber

In this 1979 lithograph, Deborah Garber creates an unexpected scene where dinosaurs engage in a chess game, blending the animal kingdom's wildness with the chessboard's strict rules. The checkerboard pattern, traditionally a symbol of strategy and calculation, becomes the stage for an organic tension, where dinosaurs are no longer just apparitions or aesthetic forms but the living essence of a game frozen and dramatic. The composition is finely balanced: In the foreground, the monumental silhouette of a diplodocus commands the scene, its presence offset by the possible motion of more menacing creatures in the background. Garber does not draw; she sculpts each figure and builds a vision. Finely hatched shading adds volume and texture to their thick, scaly skin. Light variations create depth, making the dinosaurs rise like fossil imprints awakening from stone, their massive bodies sharply defined against the chessboard. The shifting balance of shadows—sometimes precise, sometimes diffuse