Dice, cards and games of chance in Fine Arts

Gambling remains to be a popular pastime for centuries. As a result, it is a common subject in classical paintings. Below are two examples from our local museum followed by is a selection of famous art objects that depict card players and gamblers. Math and art activities related to probability and combinatorics of dice can be found in Chapter 3 of this book.

Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan, KS (online catalogue)

• Karsten Creightney (United States, born 1976)
  Roadside Gambler, 2013
  Object number: 2013.30
• Jesus (Jessie) Manuel Montes (United States, born Mexico, 1935-2013)
  21 with Cube, 2001
  Object number: 2003.5

World collections

Games of Chance

• Achilles and Ajax Engaged in a Game (ca. 540-530 BC). Amphora by Exekias in Vulci,Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Vatican City. Watch the video about the amphora .
• The Cardsharps (ca. 1594) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in the collection of Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (USA)
• The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds (1635) by Georges de La Tour. in the collection of The Louvre Museum, Paris (France).
• The Dice Players (ca. 1651) by Georges de La Tour. Preston Hall Museum, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland (UK). Image from Wikimedia.
• Card Players in an Opulent Interior (ca. 1663{1665) by Pieter de Hooch. in the collection of The Louvre Museum, Paris (France).
• The Card Players (ca. 1890- 1892) by Paul Cezanne. Find it in the online catalogue of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA).
• Dice, Packet of Cigarettes and Visiting Card (1914) by Pablo Pi- casso. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (USA).
• Knucklebones (ca. 1550-1069 BC). Egyptian Antiquities. The Lou- vre Museum, Paris (France). in the collection of The Louvre Museum, Paris (France).

  Randomness as Art Technique

  In the XXth century, randomness was used by artists as a conceptual art instrument.
• Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance (1916) , by Jean Arp in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA)
• 3 Standard Stoppages (1913) by Marcel Duchamp. in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
• Random Distribution of 40,000 Squares Using the Odd and Even Numbers of a Telephone Directory (1960) by the French artist Francois Morellet in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA