ENDGAME
Davis W. Morton / 1992 / oil on canvas / 24 X 30 inches

     Throughout the year, regardless of the weather, chess players from every walk of life play their game on Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. In my chess paintings I use the game to represent what it already represents, the game of living.
     In the “Endgame” of any endeavor, there is always an instant or a moment when we know for certain that the game is won or lost. In this painting, one man has just made the move that will win the game no matter what his opponent does. But until the game is won, he resists the false security that even a smile might bring. The other man makes no effort to hide his reaction as the knowledge of his fate runs him over, like the “DC Transit” bus.
In chess, how a player ends a game usually indicates how that person will play another.   

     Although some of the strongest players in this game may be famous for their tantrums when they lose, they are not the wisest players in the game that their game represents. Those players accept success and failure with equal grace, because being flushed by either in their next game would only compromise the clarity of a fresh approach.

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©2002
Comments and Original Art by Davis W. Morton (4-136)