The
Dutch artist Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972) was a
draftsman, book illustrator, tapestry designer,
and muralist, but his primary work was as a
printmaker. Born in Leeuwarden, Holland, the son
of a civil engineer, Escher spent most of his
childhood in Arnhem. Aspiring to be an architect,
Escher enrolled in the School for Architecture and
Decorative Arts in Haarlem. While studying there
from 1919 to 1922, his emphasis shifted from
architecture to drawing and printmaking upon the
encouragement of his teacher Samuel Jessurun de
Mesquita. In 1924 Escher married Jetta Umiker, and
the couple settled in Rome to raise a family. They
resided in Italy until 1935, when growing
political turmoil forced them to move first to
Switzerland, then to Belgium. In 1941, with World
War II under way and German troops occupying
Brussels, Escher returned to Holland and settled
in Baarn, where he lived and worked until shortly
before his death.
The main subjects of Escher's early
art are Rome and the Italian countryside. While
living in Italy from 1922 to 1935, he spent the
spring and summer months traveling throughout the
country to make drawings. Later, in his studio in
Rome, Escher developed these into prints. Whether
depicting the winding roads of the Italian
countryside, the dense architecture of small
hillside towns, or details of massive buildings in
Rome, Escher often created enigmatic spatial
effects by combining various -- often conflicting
-- vantage points, for instance, looking up and
down at the same time. He frequently made such
effects more dramatic through his treatment of
light, using vivid contrasts of black and white.
After Escher left Italy in 1935, his
interest shifted from landscape to something he
described as "mental imagery," often based on
theoretical premises. This was prompted in part by
a second visit in 1936 to the fourteenth-century
palace of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The
lavish tile work adorning the Moorish architecture
suggested new directions in the use of color and
the flattened patterning of interlocking forms.
Replacing the abstract patterns of Moorish tiles
with recognizable figures, in the late 1930s
Escher developed "the regular division of the
plane." The artist also used this concept in
creating his Metamorphosis prints. Starting in the
1920s, the idea of "metamorphosis" -- one shape or
object turning into something completely different
-- became one of Escher's favorite themes. After
1935, Escher also increasingly explored complex
architectural mazes involving perspective games
and the representation of impossible spaces.
The
Dutch artist Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972) was a
draftsman, book illustrator, tapestry designer,
and muralist, but his primary work was as a
printmaker. Born in Leeuwarden, Holland, the son
of a civil engineer, Escher spent most of his
childhood in Arnhem. Aspiring to be an architect,
Escher enrolled in the School for Architecture and
Decorative Arts in Haarlem. While studying there
from 1919 to 1922, his emphasis shifted from
architecture to drawing and printmaking upon the
encouragement of his teacher Samuel Jessurun de
Mesquita. In 1924 Escher married Jetta Umiker, and
the couple settled in Rome to raise a family. They
resided in Italy until 1935, when growing
political turmoil forced them to move first to
Switzerland, then to Belgium. In 1941, with World
War II under way and German troops occupying
Brussels, Escher returned to Holland and settled
in Baarn, where he lived and worked until shortly
before his death. 