Hans Richter. 8 x 8. [A Chess Sonata in 8 Movements]. New York: Film Culture, Gideon Bachmann, 1957. Original press release archive for Hans Richter's collaborative surrealist film, comprising: three press releases from Gideon Bachmann, two about the premier at Fifth Avenue Cinema, the other general copy featuring quotes from Jean Cocteau and Richter; a press release for a benefit gala for Film Culture; a short biography of Richter; and an invitation to a preliminary (?) screening at 1600 Broadway on the ninth floor. All but one page with original annotations or notes, mostly banal but with fairly extensive corrections in the biography. Together, six leaves. Letter (11 x 8.5 inches; 279 x 217 mm.). Five leaves on plain paper stock, one on pink; content mechanically reproduced. Mailing folds as issued. General light edgewear with nicks and small marginal tears or chips, including a few short closed tears along the folds; the short biography has one longer (about two inches) closed tear to the left edge that partially affects the text; staple and pin holes (usually a few) in the upper-left corner; some corners creased; discoloration from paperclip on the left edge of the 1600 Broadway invitation; general trivial soiling. Very good.
"[Hans Richter] undertook [8 x 8] at the suggestion of Marcel Duchamp, a chess enthusiast, after The Minotaur, a planned sequel to the 'Narcissus' episode of Dreams That Money Can Buy, failed to secure funding, although 8 x 8 engaged similar concerns... 'Chess is so universal,' wrote Richter to Jean Cocteau about this new project, 'that practically every human situation has its corresponding move among the countless possibilities of chess...' The filmmaker further recognized a kinship between the work, which took its title from the layout of a chessboard, and Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass..." (Howard Pollack, The Ballad of John Latouche, Oxford: 2017. p. 245). Film as a Subversive Art, p. 68 (photo only). (#10024).
