Why Eve Babitz played naked chess with Marcel Duchamp

Eve Babitz reveals the motivation behind a remarkable photograph.

(Image credit: iStock)

last updated 23 August 2016

Eve Babitz was Los Angeles' greatest bard. Promiscuous but discerning, the bombshell with a brain bonded with Joan Didion and bedded Jim Morrison. A writer first and party girl second, Babitz presented in reverse until she sickened from what she called the "squalid overboogie." People took her penchant for presenting herself as trivial seriously; her books went out of print, and an accident that left her with serious burns over half of her body turned her into something of a recluse.

Babitz is finally getting the literary comeback she deserves, but she's still best remembered for posing nude with Marcel Duchamp while they played chess. She was 20, and he was 76. And in this interview with Paul Karlstrom for the Archives of American Art in June 2000, she explained why she did it: to punish her married boyfriend Walter Hopps for not inviting her to a party.

BABITZ: ... [Photographer Julian Wasser] wanted me to be part of this deal and I wouldn't go to the party with him when he wanted to take me because Walter didn't invite me.KARLSTROM: So, what were you, Walter's girlfriend or something?BABITZ: I thought I — I deserved respect.KARLSTROM: I would say. This story is much more interesting than —BABITZ: That's right. I was 20 years old and I wasn't invited to this party. So, I took these pictures. That was it. You know, I got to Duchamp. We started playing chess. [Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution]

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BABITZ: I wanted my cigarettes. I wanted my glasses. I wanted my clothes on; I wanted Julian to take me to a Chinese restaurant.KARLSTROM: So you —BABITZ: I knew exactly the one he wanted to go too. Chow Yung Fat. It's down on Main Street.KARLSTROM: So you really weren't all that comfortable?BABITZ: No. No.KARLSTROM: But it was worth it.BABITZ: It was worth it because Walter came in and he dropped his gum.KARLSTROM: So Walter actually came in to see how it was going.BABITZ: Yeah.KARLSTROM: And he didn't even know you were there.BABITZ: No.KARLSTROM: Wow. So you won.BABITZ: Yeah.KARLSTROM: You didn't win at chess.BABITZ: No.KARLSTROM: But you won in terms of taking control of the situation.BABITZ: That's right.KARLSTROM: I mean, did you think of it a little bit that way? Because I'm thinking of motivation.BABITZ: I said, "Hello, Walter" and he dropped his gum.KARLSTROM: Literally?MS. BABITZ: Yes. He always chewed Double Mint gum. [Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution]

This descriptive lightness and jolly insistence on her own frivolity make Babitz a pleasure to listen to when she's speaking off the cuff (and an absolute dream to read, where she sneaks in structural flourishes that knock you silly with their unsuspected lyricism). If you're up to it, read the whole oral history; it's a marvelous thing. Better still: Read her books. On Aug. 30, Slow Days, Fast Company will be back in print.

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Lili Loofbourow is the culture critic at TheWeek.com. She's also a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Review of Books and an editor for Beyond Criticism, a Bloomsbury Academic series dedicated to formally experimental criticism. Her writing has appeared in a variety of venues including The Guardian, Salon, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Slate.

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