Maurits Escher is an outstanding Dutch graphic artist known throughout the world for his work. In the center, in the museum, opened in 2002, and named after him "Escher in het Paleis", a permanent exhibition of 130 works by the master is open. Are you saying graphics are boring? Maybe... maybe that could be said about the work of graphic artists, but not about Escher. The artist is known for his unusual vision of the world and playing with the logic of space.
Escher's fantastic engravings, literally, can be perceived as graphic image theory of relativity. The works depicting impossible figures and reincarnations are literally mesmerizing, they are not like anything else.
Maurits Escher was a real master of puzzles and his optical illusions show something that doesn't really exist. In his paintings, everything changes, smoothly flows from one form to another, stairs have no beginning and end, and water flows upwards. Someone will exclaim - this cannot be! See for yourself.
The famous painting "Day and Night"
“Climbing and descending”, where people go up the stairs all the time... or down?
“Reptiles” - here the alligators turn from drawn into three-dimensional...
"Drawing hands" - on which two hands draw each other.
"Meeting"
"Hand with reflective ball"
The main pearl of the museum is the 7-meter work of Escher - "Metamorphoses". This engraving allows you to experience the connection between eternity and infinity, where time and space come together as one.
The museum is located in the former Winter Palace of Queen Emma, the great-grandmother of the current Queen Beatrix. Emma bought the palace in 1896 and lived there until her death in May 1934. In two halls of the museum, which are called the “Royal Rooms”, furniture and photographs of Queen Emma have been preserved, and on the curtains there is information about the interior of the palace of those times.
On the top floor of the museum there is an interactive exhibition “Look Like Escher”. This is real Magic world illusions. IN magic ball worlds appear and disappear, walls move and change, and children look taller than their parents. A little further there is an unusual floor, which optically falls under every step, and in a silver ball you can see yourself through the eyes of Escher.
Any fantasy is congenial to the human mind, but not absurdity dictated from outside. Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, who was born on June 17, 1898 and died in 1972, painted surreal, unthinkable things. It can not be so. But that is how he saw the world. This is the truth of a real person...
Maurits Cornelis Escher.
(17.06.1898 - 27.03.1972)
Dutch graphic artist
Maurits Cornelis Escher — Maurits Cornelis Escher(1898-1972) - Dutch graphic artist. Born June 17, 1898 in Leeuwarden (Holland) in the family of a hydraulic engineer. In 1919 he entered the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem, but soon left architecture to study graphics. Until 1937 he traveled extensively in Europe, making sketches, paying special attention to the deceptive, ambiguous elements of the landscape.
Ascending and descending - Up and down
Description:
1960 - lithograph 38x28.5 cm. Endless stairs representing main motive this picture, inspired by the article by L.S. and R. Penrose, published in the British Journal of Psychology in February 1958. The rectangle of the courtyard is closed by the walls of the building, which has an endless staircase instead of a roof. Most likely, monks, adherents of a certain religious sect, live in this house. Perhaps a daily ritual requires them to climb the steps for several hours at a time. It seems that if they get tired, they are allowed to turn around and go down instead. to rise. However, both directions, although expressive, are equally useless. The two recalcitrant individuals at this point refuse to participate in the ritual. They do not need this at all, but there is no doubt that sooner or later they will be forced to repent of their nonconformism.
Works Escher involve the viewer in the opposition of illusion and reality. For example, in engraving reptiles flat image lizards are miraculously filled with volume, they seem to crawl out of the picture. Works such as reptiles And Another world, where the walls, ceiling and floor change their spatial roles with each turn of the sheet, reflect the passion of the artist "magic mechanics" metamorphosis of the graphic image.
Puddle - Puddle
Description:
1952. Longitudinal engraving. 24x32 cm The cloudless evening sky is reflected in a puddle left on a forest path after a recent downpour. Traces of two car tires, two bicycle wheels and the shoes of two pedestrians were imprinted on the clay earth.
Creation Escher representatives of the natural sciences, mathematicians, and psychologists were the first to appreciate them. It is believed that it should be considered in the context of the theory of relativity Einstein, Freudian psychoanalysis, cubism and similar discoveries in the field of space, time relations and their identity, although Escher and did not belong to the main stream of avant-garde art of the 20th century.
Tower of Babel
Description:
tower of babel.1928. Longitudinal engraving. 62 x 38.5 cm Since the period of mixing of languages supposedly coincided with the emergence of different races, some builders are white, others are black. The work has stopped: they no longer understand each other. The drama culminates at the very top of the tower under construction - we see it from above, as if from a bird's eye view, which requires maximum, perspective reduction. This problem was thought through by the author to the end only twenty years later.
Belvedere
Description:Belvedere. 1958. lithograph. 46x29.5 cm To the left in the foreground is a sheet of paper with a drawing of a cube. The intersections of the faces are marked with two circles. Which line is ahead, which is behind? In a 3D world, it is impossible to see the front and back sides at the same time, so they cannot be depicted. However, it is possible to draw an object. Transmitting a different reality, if you look at it from above and below. A young man sitting on a bench holds in his hands just such an absurd likeness of a cube. He gazes thoughtfully at this incomprehensible object, remaining indifferent to the fact that the belvedere behind him is built in the same incredible, absurd style. On the floor of the lower platform, that is, inside, there is a ladder on which two people climb. However, having reached the upper platform, they will again find themselves outside, under the open sky, and again they will have to go inside the belvedere. Is it surprising that none of those present cares about the prisoner, who sticks his head between the bars of the prison bars and mourns his fate?
Balkony - Balcony
Description:
1945. Lithography. 30x23.5 cm The three-dimensionality of these houses is an absolute function. It is impossible to break the two-dimensional nature of the sheet of paper on which they are depicted (unless you click on it with reverse side). However, in the center there is a certain swelling, a kind of prominence, which is also nothing more than an illusion: the sheet remains flat. Only stretching was achieved, a fourfold increase in the central part of the composition.
Double planetoid
Description:
Double asteroid.1949. End engraving (four boards). Diameter 37.5 cm Two regular tetrahedra penetrating each other float in space like an asteroid. The dark tetrahedron is inhabited by people who have transformed it into a city with houses, bridges and roads. The light tetrahedron remained in its natural state, with rocks overgrown with vegetation and prehistoric animals. So, two celestial bodies form a single whole, but they have no idea about each other.
Moebius band II - Moebius band 2
Description:
1963. Longitudinal engraving (three boards). 45x20 cm A closed ring-shaped strip at first glance has two surfaces - external and internal. You see how nine red ants crawl one after another on one and on the other. However, this is a strip with a one-sided surface.
Tetrahedal Planetoid - Quadrangular planet
Description:
Tetrahedral asteroid. 1954. Longitudinal engraving (2 boards). 43x43 cm. This small planet, inhabited by people, has the shape of a regular tetrahedron and is surrounded by a spherical atmosphere. 2 out of 4 faces of the tetrahedron are visible; an edge divides the image in two. All vertical lines: the walls of houses, trees and people are directed towards the center of gravity, and all horizontal surfaces: gardens, streets, roofs, water of ponds and canals - form part of a spherical shell.
The limit is circle 4 (heaven and hell).
1960. Longitudinal engraving (two boards). Diameter 41.5 cm. And here the size of the components decreases as the centrifugal movement towards the edges of the circle. 6 most large forms(3 white angels and 3 black devils) radiate from the center. The disc is divided into 6 sections dominated by angels on a black background and devils on a white one. Thus, heaven and hell change places 6 times. In the intermediate, "earthly" stages, they are similar to each other.
Drawing Hands - Drawing hands
Description:
1948. Lithography. 28.5x34 cm A sheet of paper is attached to the board with buttons. Right hand makes a sketch of a cuff with a cufflink on a sheet. The work is not finished yet. But on the right is already drawn in detail left hand: she protrudes from the sleeve so realistically, as if growing out of a flat surface, and, in turn, sketches another cuff, from which, like a living creature, her right arm crawls out.
Description:
1961 Lithograph Following the eyes of all its elements in turn, we did not notice the slightest discrepancy between them. However, before us is a completely impossible whole, since unexpected changes occur in the interpretation of the distance between the object and the observer. This unthinkable construction is “built into” the picture three times. The falling water drives a mill wheel and flows down an inclined zigzag chute between the two towers, returning to the point where the waterfall begins again. It is enough for the miller to throw a bucket of water into it from time to time to compensate for the evaporation. It seems that both towers are of the same height; however, the one on the right turns out to be a floor lower than the tower on the left
Waterfall (in detail). 1961 - lithograph
Dragon - Dragon
Description:
Dragon. 1952. End engraving. 32x24 cm No matter how this dragon strives to pass into another dimension, it remains absolutely flat. Cut in two places a sheet of paper where it is imprinted. Then bend the sheet so that you get two square holes. But the dragon is a stubborn monster: despite its two-dimensionality, it tries with all its might to prove that it exists in three dimensions; therefore, he puts his head into one quadrangular hole, and his tail into another.
Eye - Eye
Description:
1946. Mezzotint. 15x20 cm. The artist draws his eye, greatly enlarged with the help of a concave shaving mirror. The pupil reflects the skull, always reminding us: memento mori.
Whirlpools - Whirlpools
whirlpools. 1957. End engraving. 45x23.5 cm The foci are connected to each other by two white S-shaped spirals, passing along the axes of the bodies of the fish, which swim close to each other. Odnoka in this case, they move forward in opposite directions. The top focus is the starting point for the dark rows, whose components are maximized in the middle of the drawing; then, carried away by the whirlpool, they fall into the sphere of influence of the lower focus until they disappear into it. The light rows function, but in the opposite direction. Taking into account the technological features of woodcuts, I want to note that one engraving board is used for both tones: the prints are fixed alternately on one sheet of paper: when rotated 180 degrees, they create reflections of each other. One print densely fills the free areas of the other, and vice versa.
Circle Limit III - Limit- circle III
1959. Longitudinal engraving (two boards). Diameter 41.5 cm Curved white lines, intersecting, divide each other into sections; each is equal to the length of the fish - from the infinitesimal to the largest, and again - from the largest to the infinitesimal. Each row is monochrome. At least four colors must be used to achieve the tonal contrasts of these series. From a technological point of view, five boards are required: one for black elements and four for color ones. To fill the circle, each board in the shape of a rectangular circle should be pulled four times. thus a finished print would require 4x5=20 prints.
Destination
Description:
1951 - lithograph 29X42 cm.
snakes. 1969
Relativity. 1953
Marius Cornelis Escher (1898 - 1972) one of the most famous graphic artists in the world. His work is loved by millions of people around the world, as we can see on many sites on the internet.
Escher is best known for his so-called incredible structures such as "Up and Down", "Relativity", his "transformations" such as "Metamorphoses". I", "Metamorphosis II", "Metamorphosis III ”, “Sky and Water” or “Reptiles”.
However, Escher created some wonderful, more realistic works during his stay and travels in Italy.
For example, Castrovalva ", where you can see Escher admiring the beauties of heights and lowlands near and far, or lithography" Atrani » a small town located on the Amalfi Coast, established in 1931.
During his lifetime, Escher produced 448 lithographs, prints and woodcuts and over 2,000 drawings and sketches. Like some of his famous predecessors - Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Durer and Holben - Escher was left-handed.
As a graphic artist, Escher made illustrations for books, stamps and frescoes
Designed tapestries.
Escher was born in Luwander, in the Netherlands, the fourth youngest son of an engineer. After Escher was 5 years old, his family moved to Arnhem, where Escher spent most of his youth. After failing his high school exams, Maurice was eventually sent to the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem.
After Maurice spent a week at school, and showed his drawings and linocuts to his teacher Samuel Jesserne, who inspired him to continue working in the decorative genre, he announced to his father that he was better off studying decorative arts than architecture,
After leaving school, Escher traveled to Italy, where he met his future wife Gettu Wimker, (whom he married in 1924). They settled in Rome, where they lived until 1935. During these 11 years, Escher traveled to Italy each year, making drawings and sketches for various prints he produced back home.
Many of these sketches he later used for lithographs and woodcuts, for example the background in the lithograph "Waterfall" is taken from works of the Italian period, or the trees depicted in the woodcut called "Puddle", these are the same trees that Escher used in wood engraving" Pineta of Calvi ", which was made in 1932.
Escher was fascinated by the regular air force at the Alhambara, and the 14th century castles at Granada, on a visit to Spain in 1922.
While living in Switzerland and during the Second World War, Escher pursued his hobby resolutely, painting 62 of the 137 works in the series " Regular Division Drawings which he will create during his life.
Expanding on his passion for the regular air force, using some drawings as the basis for his other hobby, beech wood carving.
Escher played with architecture, perspective and space. His work continues to impress and amaze millions of people around the world. In his works we notice his observations of the world that surrounds us and the expression of his fantasy. Escher shows us that reality is beautiful, comprehensible and charming.
List of works
Early work (1916-1922)
Escher's father linocut 1916
Bookplate for Bastian Kiest linocut 1916
Chrysanthemum linocut 1916
Child's head linocut 1916
Skull linocut 1917
Railway bridge, Oosterbeek engraving 1917
Talisman engraving 1917
Male portrait linocut 1917
Self portrait linocut 1917
Child linocut 1917
Young Thrush linocut 1917
Bookplate for Maurits Escher linocut 1917
Self portrait linocut 1917
Jug linocut 1917
Blotters linocut 1918
Fit van Stolk linocut 1918
Waves linocut 1918
Self portrait linocut 1918
The borger oak linocut 1919
Portrait linocut 1919
Man Seated with a Cat on His Lap Longitudinal Woodcut 1919
Tree longitudinal woodcut 1919
Self-portrait longitudinal woodcut 1919
Parrot linocut 1919
White cat longitudinal woodcut 1919
Sea shell longitudinal woodcut 1919 or 1920
Self-portrait on a chair longitudinal woodcut 1920
Rabbits longitudinal woodcut 1920
Nude woman (landscape) longitudinal woodcut 1920
Wild West longitudinal woodcut 1920
The Fall longitudinal woodcut 1920
Escher's father through a magnifying glass longitudinal woodcut 1920
Portrait of a Man Longitudinal Woodcut 1920
Standing Man Longitudinal Woodcut 1920
Seated old woman longitudinal woodcut 1920
Flower engraving 1920
Seated Nude Woman I Longitudinal Woodcut 1920 or 1921
Seated Nude Woman II Longitudinal Woodcut 1920 or 1921
Seated Nude Woman III Longitudinal Woodcut 1920 or 1921
Rochier Ingen Hus lithograph 1920 or 1921
Poster lithograph 1920 or 1921
Filling the plane with human figures lithograph 1920 or 1921
Paradise longitudinal woodcut 1920
Seated Nude Woman IV Longitudinal Woodcut 1921
Seated nude woman V linocut 1921
Hand with fir cone lengthwise woodcut 1921
Forest near Menton longitudinal woodcut 1921
Saint Francis longitudinal woodcut 1922
Eight heads: base longitudinal woodcut 1922
Eight heads longitudinal woodcut 1922
Eagle (vignette) longitudinal woodcut 1922
Italian period (1922-1935)
Roofs of Siena longitudinal woodcut 1922
San Gimignano longitudinal woodcut 1923
Dolphins longitudinal woodcut 1923
Self-portrait longitudinal woodcut 1922
Portrait of Jetta ("Woman with a Flower") longitudinal woodcut 1925
Vitorchiano nel Cimino longitudinal woodcut 1925
First Day of the Creation of the World longitudinal woodcut 1925
The Sixth Day of the Creation of the World longitudinal woodcut 1926
The Fall longitudinal woodcut 1927
Procession in the Crypt longitudinal woodcut 1927
Rome longitudinal woodcut 1927
Castle in the air longitudinal woodcut 1928
Tower of Babel lithograph 1928
Farah San Martino, Abruzzi longitudinal woodcut 1928
Bonifacio, Corsica longitudinal woodcut 1928
Corte, Corsica longitudinal woodcut 1929
City in Southern Italy longitudinal woodcut 1929
Flooded Cathedral longitudinal woodcut 1929
Child Arthur Escher longitudinal woodcut 1929
Self portrait lithograph 1929
Barbarano, Cimino lithograph 1929
Street in Scanno, Abruzzi longitudinal woodcut 1930
Castrovalva lithograph 1930
Bridge lithograph 1930
Morano, Calabria longitudinal woodcut 1930
Fiumara, Calabria lithograph 1930
Tropea, Calabria lithograph 1931
Monastery next to Rocca Imperiale, Calabria lithograph 1931
Atrani, Amalfi Coast lithograph 1931
Covered alley in Atrani cross woodcut 1931
Ravello and the Amalfi Coast lithograph 1931
Amalfi Coast longitudinal woodcut 1931
Farm, Ravello lithograph 1931
San Cosimo, Ravello lithograph 1932
Turello, Southern Italy lithograph 1932
Porta Maria del Ospedale, Ravello cross woodcut 1932
Lion on the Fountain of the Piazza in Ravello cross woodcut 1932
San Michele dei Frisone, Rome lithograph 1932
Mummified priests in Ganji, Sicily lithograph 1932
Segeste Castle, Sicily crosscut woodcut 1932
Cave city near Sperlinga, in Sicily longitudinal woodcut 1933
Palm tree transverse woodcut 1933
Caltavuturo in the mountains of Madoni, Sicily lithograph 1933
Monastery in Montreal, Sicily longitudinal woodcut 1933
Lava flow from Etna in 1928, Sicily lithograph 1933
Pineta Calvi, Corsica longitudinal woodcut 1933
Fluorescent sea lithograph 1933
Fireworks lithograph 1933
Old olive tree, Corsica crosscut woodcut 1934
Nonza, Corsica lithograph 1934
Still life with glass lithograph 1934
Rome at night: St. Peter's Colonnade longitudinal woodcut 1934
Rome at night: Santa Maria del Popolo longitudinal woodcut 1934
Rome at Night: Trajan's Column Longitudinal Woodcut 1934
Night Rome: Basilica of Constantine longitudinal woodcut 1934
Rome by Night: Castle of St. Angelo longitudinal woodcut 1934
Night Rome: Colosseum longitudinal woodcut 1934
Airplane over a snowy landscape longitudinal woodcut 1934
Still life with a reflecting ball lithograph 1934
Portrait of the engineer G. A. Escher, the artist's father, at the age of 92 lithograph 1935
Hand with reflecting ball lithograph 1935
St. Peter's Cathedral, Rome longitudinal woodcut 1935
Senguela, Malta longitudinal woodcut 1935
Hell (copy of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch) lithograph 1935
Dream longitudinal woodcut 1935
Switzerland and Belgium (1935-1941)
Snow lithograph 1936
Thorny Flower Crosscut Woodcut 1936
House in Lava near Nunziata, Sicily lithograph 1936
Venice engraving 1936
Still Life and Street Longitudinal Woodcut 1937
Metamorphosis I longitudinal woodcut 1937
Development of longitudinal woodcut 1937
Day and night longitudinal woodcut 1938
Sky and water I longitudinal woodcut 1938
Sky and water II lithograph 1938
Cycle lithograph 1938
Entrance to the Old Church, Delft longitudinal woodcut 1939
Delft from the tower of the Old Church longitudinal woodcut 1939
Development II longitudinal woodcut 1939
Ostpoort, Delft longitudinal woodcut 1939
New Church, Delft longitudinal woodcut 1939
City Hall, Delft longitudinal woodcut 1939
Canal Foldersgracht, Delft longitudinal woodcut 1939
Metamorphosis II longitudinal woodcut 1939-1940
Ex-libris for Dr. P. Travagliino cross-cut woodcut 1940
Return to the Netherlands (1941-1954)
Fish longitudinal woodcut 1941
Filling the plane with reptiles longitudinal woodcut 1941
Verbum lithograph 1942
Reptiles lithograph 1943
Ant lithograph 1943
Dandelion I crosscut woodcut 1943
Dandelion II cross woodcut 1943
Meeting lithograph 1944
Balcony lithograph 1945
Doric columns cross woodcut 1945
Three spheres I transverse woodcut 1945
Diploma of the Provisional Academy in Eindhoven longitudinal woodcut 1945
Riders longitudinal woodcut 1946
Mezzotint eye 1946
Magic mirror lithograph 1946
Three spheres II lithograph 1946
Mummified mezzotint frog 1946
New Year's greeting card longitudinal woodcut 1947
1st floor of the mezzotint gallery 1946-1949
Above and below lithograph 1947
Underworld II longitudinal and transverse woodcut 1947
Dewdrop mezzotint 1948
Study for the Stars longitudinal woodcut 1948
Stars transverse woodcut 1948
Dewdrop mezzotint 1948
Sun and moon engraving 1948
Drawing hands lithograph 1948
New Year greeting card engraving 1949
Filling space with birds crosscut woodcut 1949
Mosaic Pattern: Birds Crosscut Woodcut 1949
Sea shells mezzotint 1949
Fish and frogs crosscut woodcut 1949
Double asteroid crosscut woodcut 1949
Butterflies longitudinal woodcut 1950
Rippled surface lithograph 1950
Order and Chaos lithograph 1950
Devils (vignette) transverse woodcut 1950
House with stairs lithograph 1951
House with stairs II lithograph 1951
Mosaic I mezzotint 1951
Curl up! lithograph 1951
Fate lithograph 1951
Tiling of the plane with fish and birds lithograph 1951
Gravity lithograph 1952
Two intersecting planes longitudinal woodcut 1952
Dragon engraving 1952
Puddle longitudinal woodcut 1952
Division of space by cubes lithograph 1952
Concentric spheres transverse woodcut 1953
Relativity lithograph 1953
Spirals transverse woodcut 1953
Three intersecting planes longitudinal woodcut 1954
Bookplate for A. R. A. Wertheim longitudinal woodcut 1954
Tetrahedral asteroid longitudinal woodcut 1954
Success and fame (1955-1972)
Convexity and Concavity lithograph 1955
Depth engraving 1955
Liberation lithograph 1955
Spiral longitudinal-transverse woodcut 1955
Three worlds lithograph 1955
Infinite Unity lithograph 1956
Exhibition of engravings lithography 1956
Swans engraving 1956
Division longitudinal woodcut 1956
Less and less lengthwise woodcut 1956
Whirlpools longitudinal-transverse woodcut 1957
Cube with magic ribbons lithograph 1957
Mosaic II lithograph 1957
Belvedere lithograph 1958
Road of Life II engraving 1958
Limit - circle I engraving 1958
Spherical surface with fish longitudinal woodcut 1958
Spherical spirals longitudinal woodcut 1958
Flatworms lithograph 1959
Limit - circle II longitudinal woodcut 1959
Limit - circle III longitudinal woodcut 1959
Fish and scales engraving 1959
Limit - Circle IV (Heaven and Hell) longitudinal woodcut 1960
Descending and ascending lithograph 1960
Waterfall lithograph 1961
Möbius strip I longitudinal-transverse woodcut 1961
Möbius ribbon II (Red Ants) longitudinal woodcut 1963
Limit-square engraving 1964
Knots longitudinal woodcut 1965
Road of Life III longitudinal woodcut 1966
Metamorphosis III longitudinal woodcut 1967-1968
Snakes longitudinal woodcut 1969
Books illustrated by Escher
* A. P. van Stolk. Flor de Pascua. — Baarn, 1921.
* E. E. Drijfhout. XXIV Emblemata dat zijn zinne-beelden. — Bussum, 1932.
* J. Walch. De vreeselijke avonturen van Scholastica. — Bussum, 1933.
Books written by Escher
*M. C. Escher. Regelmatige vlakverdeling. — Utrecht, 1958.
*M. C. Escher. Grafiek en tekeningen. — Zwolle, 1959.
*M. C. Escher. The graphic work of M. C. Escher. — New York, 1961.
* R. Escher, M. C. Escher. Bewegingen en metamorfosen. Een briefwisselling. — Amsterdam, 1985.
Heritage
Escher Museum in The Hague
In 1968, 4 years before his death, Escher created The M. C. Escher Foundation in order to "preserve his legacy." The M.C. Escher Foundation continues to organize exhibitions of the artist's work, publish books and films about him and his work. However, the foundation did not inherit his copyrights.
The copyright holder is The M.C. Escher Company B.V. This foundation manages all copyright in Escher's work, including all images and text, both oral and written. Despite being based in the Netherlands, The M.C. Escher Company B.V. is very active in dealing with copyright infringement in the United States. In particular, the fund recently won a case against the American trading firm Rock Walker.
In 2002, in The Hague, in the former royal palace, formerly used as an exhibition hall (Dutch. Het Paleis), the Escher Museum was opened, which exhibits his most famous graphic works.
On the wall of the boarding house in Ravello, where Escher stayed and where, in particular, he met his future wife, there is a memorial plaque.
Interesting Facts
* An asteroid discovered in 1985 is named after Escher.
* The image of the painting "Relativity" is regularly used in other works of art: it is present in one of the rooms of the Goblin City in the film "Labyrinth", the characters of the animated series "Futurama" in the series "I, Roommate" during the search for an apartment one of the heroes visit including "Escher" house, the image is present in the video red hot chili peppers for the song Otherside.
* In "Weird Al" Yankovic's song White and Nerdy, which parodies the image of a nerd, there is the line "MC Escher that's my favorite MC".
The Dutch artist Moritz Cornelis Escher, born in Leeuwarden in 1898, created unique and charming works that use or show a wide range of mathematical ideas.
When he was at school, his parents planned for him to become an architect, but ill health prevented Moritz from completing his education and he became an artist. Until the beginning of the 1950s, he was not widely known, but after a number of exhibitions and articles in American magazines (Time, etc.), he receives world fame. Among his enthusiastic fans were mathematicians who saw in his work an original visual interpretation of some mathematical laws. This is more interesting because Escher himself did not have a special mathematical education.
In the course of his work, he drew ideas from mathematical papers that talked about tessellation of the plane, the projection of three-dimensional figures onto the plane, and non-Euclidean geometry, which will be discussed below. He was fascinated by all sorts of paradoxes, including "impossible figures". The paradoxical ideas of Roger Penrose were used in many of Escher's works. The most interesting ideas of Escher for studying are all possible partitions of the plane and logics three-dimensional space.
mosaics
A regular partition of the plane, called a "mosaic" is a set of closed figures that can be used to tile the plane without intersections of the figures and gaps between them. Usually, simple polygons, such as squares or rectangles, are used as a mosaic pattern. But Escher was interested in all kinds of mosaics - regular and irregular. irregular mosaics form non-rotating patterns) - and also introduced his own view, which he called "metamorphoses", where the figures change and interact with each other, and sometimes change the plane itself.
Escher began to take an interest in mosaics in 1936 while traveling in Spain. He spent a lot of time at the Alhambra sketching Arabic mosaics, and later said that this was for him "the richest source of inspiration." Later in 1957, in his essay on mosaics, Escher wrote:
In mathematical works, regular partitioning of the plane is considered theoretically... Does this mean that this question is purely mathematical? Mathematicians opened the door leading to another world, but did not dare to enter this world themselves. They are more interested in the path on which the door stands than in the garden beyond it.
Mathematicians have proven that only three regular polygons are suitable for a regular partition of a plane: a triangle, a square and a hexagon. (There are many more irregular variants of partitioning the plane. In particular, irregular mosaics are sometimes used in mosaics, which are based on a regular pentagon.) Escher used basic mosaic patterns, applying transformations to them, which in geometry are called symmetry, reflection, displacement, etc. He also distorted the basic figures, turning them into animals, birds, lizards, and so on. These distorted mosaic patterns had three-, four- and six-way symmetry, thus retaining the property of filling the plane without overlaps and gaps.
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In the "Reptiles" engraving, small crocodiles playfully break out of the prison of the two-dimensional space of the table, walk around to turn back into two-dimensional figures. Escher used reptile mosaics in many of his works. In "Evolution 1" one can trace the development of the distortion of the square mosaic into the central figure of four lizards.
Polyhedra
correct geometric bodies- polyhedrons - had a special charm for Escher. In many of his works, polyhedra are the main figure, and in many more works they appear as auxiliary elements. There are only five regular polyhedra, that is, such bodies, all of whose faces consist of the same regular polygons. They are also called Platonic solids. These are the tetrahedron, whose faces are four regular triangles, the cube with six square faces, the octahedron, which has eight triangular faces, the dodecahedron, whose faces are twelve regular pentagons, and the icosahedron with twenty triangular faces. On the engraving "Four bodies" Escher depicted the intersection of the main regular polyhedra located on the same axis of symmetry, in addition, the polyhedra look translucent, and through any of them you can see the rest.
A large number of different polyhedra can be obtained by combining regular polyhedra, as well as turning a polyhedron into a star. To transform a polyhedron into a star, it is necessary to replace each of its faces with a pyramid, the base of which is the face of the polyhedron. An elegant example of the stellated dodecahedron can be found in Order and Chaos. In this case, the star polyhedron is placed inside a glass sphere. The ascetic beauty of this design contrasts with the randomly scattered garbage on the table. Note also that by analyzing the picture you can guess the nature of the light source for the entire composition - this is a window that is reflected in the upper left part of the sphere.
Figures obtained by combining regular polyhedra can be found in many of Escher's works. The most interesting among them is the "Stars" engraving, on which you can see bodies obtained by combining tetrahedra, cubes and octahedrons. If Escher had depicted in this work only various versions of polyhedra, we would never have known about it. But for some reason, he placed chameleons inside the central figure in order to make it difficult for us to perceive the whole figure. Thus, we need to digress from the usual perception of the picture and try to look at it with fresh eyes in order to present it in its entirety. This aspect of this picture is another subject of mathematicians' admiration for Escher's work.
space shape
Among Escher's most important works from a mathematical point of view are paintings that operate on the nature of space itself. The lithograph "Three intersecting planes" is a good example to start a review of such paintings. This example demonstrates the artist's interest in the dimensionality of space and the ability of the brain to recognize three-dimensional images in two-dimensional drawings. As will be discussed below, Escher later used this principle to create marvelous visual effects.
Influenced by drawings in a book by mathematician H. Coxeter, Escher created many illustrations of hyperbolic space. One example can be seen in the work The Limit of the Circle III. Here is one of two types of non-Euclidean space described by the French mathematician Poincaré. To understand the features of this space, imagine that you are inside the picture itself. As you move from the center of the circle to its border, your height will decrease in the same way as the fish in this picture decrease. Thus, the path that you will need to go to the border of the circle will seem endless to you. In fact, being in such a space, at first glance, you will not notice anything unusual in it compared to the usual Euclidean space. For example, to reach the boundaries of Euclidean space, you also need to go through an infinite path. However, if you look closely, you will notice some differences, for example, all similar triangles are the same size in that space, and you can't draw figures there with four right angles connected by straight lines, since squares and rectangles don't exist in that space. Strange place, isn't it?
An even stranger space is shown in the work "Serpents". Here the space goes to infinity in both directions - both towards the edge of the circle and towards the center of the circle, which is shown by decreasing rings. If you enter such a space, what will it be like?
In addition to the features of the Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries, Escher was interested in the visual aspects of topology. Topology studies the properties of bodies and surfaces in space that do not change under deformation, such as tension, compression, or bending. The only thing that deformation should not lead to is rupture. Topologists have to draw a lot of strange objects. One of the most famous is the Möbius strip, which is found in many of Escher's works. It may seem strange, but this surface has only one side and one edge. If you follow the path of the ants on the Mobius Strip II lithograph, you will see that the ants are not crawling on opposite surfaces of the strip, but on the same one. Making a Möbius strip is very easy. It is necessary to take a strip of paper, bend it, and glue the opposite edges of the tape with glue. What do you think will happen if you cut the Möbius strip lengthwise?
Understanding any painting by Escher requires attention and observation, and this work requires special attention. Somehow Escher wraps the space in a ring, and it turned out that the boy is both inside the picture and outside it. The secret of this effect lies in how the image is transformed. You can understand this by analyzing the pencil sketch of the grid that Escher used to create the picture. Note that the distance between the grid lines increases in the direction of the clock hand. Let us also note what the trick of the picture is based on - White spot in the center. Mathematicians call this spot special place or singular point where space does not exist. There is no way to depict this section of the painting without seams or overlaps, so Escher solved this problem by placing his autograph in the center of the painting.
The logic of space
Escher understood that geometry determines the logic of space, but the logic of space also determines geometry. One of the most commonly used features of the logic of space is the play of light and shadow on convex and concave objects. In the "Cube with Stripes" lithograph, the projections on the ribbons are a visual guide to how the stripes are arranged in space and how they intertwine with the cube. And if you believe your eyes, then you will never believe what is drawn in this picture.
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Another aspect of the logic of space is perspective. In the drawings, in which there is a perspective effect, the so-called vanishing points are distinguished, which tell the human eye about the infinity of space. The study of the peculiarities of perspective began in the days of the revival by the artists Alberti, Dizarg and many others. Their observations and conclusions formed the basis of modern projection geometry.
By introducing additional vanishing points and slightly changing the elements of the composition to achieve the desired effect, Escher was able to depict paintings in which the orientation of the elements changes depending on how the viewer looks at the picture. In the painting "Above and Below", the artist placed five vanishing points at once - in the corners of the painting and in the center. As a result, if we look at the bottom of the picture, we get the impression that we are looking up. If we look at the upper half of the picture, it seems that we are looking down. To emphasize this effect, Escher depicted two views of the same composition.
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The third type of paintings with broken logic of space is "impossible figures". The paradox of impossible figures is based on the fact that our brain is always trying to represent two-dimensional drawings drawn on paper as three-dimensional. Escher created many works in which he addressed this anomaly. The most interesting work - lithograph "Waterfall" - is based on the figure of an impossible triangle, invented by mathematician Roger Penrose. In this work, two impossible triangles are connected into a single impossible figure. It seems that the waterfall is a closed system, operating like a perpetual motion machine, violating the law of conservation of energy. (Note: Pay attention to the polyhedrons mounted on the waterfall towers.)
Self-reproduction and information
Escher's central idea of self-replication addresses the mystery of human consciousness and the ability of the human brain to process information in a way that no computer can. The "Drawing Hands" and "Fish and Scales" lithographs use this idea in many ways. Self-reproduction is a directed action. Hands draw each other, creating themselves. At the same time, the hands themselves and the process of their self-reproduction are inseparable. In the work "Fish and Scales" the concept of self-reproduction is presented in a more functional way, and in this case it can be called self-similarity. In this sense, this work describes not only fish, but all living organisms, including humans. Of course, we do not consist of smaller copies of ourselves, but each cell of our body carries information about the whole body in the form of DNA.
Delving deeper into the study of self-reproduction, one can find it in the reflection and intersection of reflections of the real world. Such an intersection is found in many of Escher's paintings. We will consider just one example - the "Three Spheres" lithograph, on which there are three spherical bodies made of different materials with different reflectivity. These spheres reflect each other and the artist, and the room in which he works, and the sheet of paper on which he draws the spheres. Hofstadter wrote in his book "... every particle of the world contains the whole world and is contained in all other particles of the world ...".
Thus, we end up where we started, with a self-portrait of the artist - his reflection in his work.
whirlpoolsStrange, but in the original work they ignored a whole class of figures that are quite common in Escher's work. These are figures twisted in a spiral. In the work "Spirals" we see four strips twisting into a spiral, which are constantly approaching and gradually twisting into themselves, forming a kind of torus. Having passed a whole circle, the spiral goes inside itself, thus forming, as it were, a spiral of the second order - a spiral within a spiral.
In the work "Whirlpools" Escher combined the spiral form and his favorite artistic technique - the regular division of the plane (or mosaic). Here, the fish, having swum out of one whirlpool, fall into the second and, plunging into it, gradually decrease in size and finally completely disappear. Pay attention to the mosaic gradually decreasing in size. If we mentally expand the spiral, then we will see only two rows of fish swimming towards each other. But twisted into a spiral and correspondingly deformed images of fish completely cover a certain area of the infinite plane.
A different way of representing the spiral is used in the work "Spherical Spirals", where four stripes are located on the surface of the ball, passing from one pole of the ball to the other. A similar path can be taken by an airplane flying from the north pole of the globe to the south.
Here we have given the main types of spirals used by Escher in his works. Their various modifications can be found on many other lithographs of the artist.
Conclusion 2
Escher's use of various mathematical figures and laws is not limited to the above examples. By carefully studying his paintings, one can find other geometric bodies not mentioned in this article or a visual interpretation of mathematical laws.
I would like to finish with the picture "Knots", depicting closed figures that cannot be attributed to any section of this article.
Vlad Alekseev.
(netherl. Maurits Cornelis Escher, June 17, 1898, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands - March 27, 1972, Laren, The Netherlands) is a Dutch artist who became famous for his ornamental engravings and works with "impossible architecture". Escher dreamed of a career as an architect, but was forced to give it up due to poor health. Later, he became interested in engravings, and his first popular works were landscapes, which he captured on numerous travels. Escher gained worldwide fame in the mid-50s of the twentieth century, although he did not write a single book in his entire life. painting canvas.Features of the artist Maurits Escher:"mosaic" works of the artist, on which different animals form a symmetrical pattern, are especially popular. Escher used techniques based on mathematical principles. Crystallographers use his engravings to illustrate their papers.
Famous works of Maurits Escher:"Metamorphoses", "Belvedere", "Tower of Babel", "Balcony", "Hand with a reflecting sphere", "Ascent and descent".
Despite the fact that the name of Maurits Escher is known to any person who is more or less versed in art, this artist has always stood apart among his colleagues. What can I say, some art critics even doubt whether his work should be attributed to modern painting. And it is difficult to argue with them, because in his entire career Escher did not write a single painting. He was only interested in engravings, ornaments and patterns. He had little interest in fellow artists and did not communicate with any of them (at least, no evidence of this has survived), which only strengthened his position as an outsider among painters. But despite everything, Escher, with his mosaic patterns, impossible architecture and replicable, endlessly reproducible drawings, managed to achieve what many artists of that time could only dream of. Escher became famous during his lifetime and died in old age practically recognized as a genius.
Invisible Man
The artist was born on June 17, 1898 in the small Dutch town of Leeuwarden. The fifth son of George Arnold Escher and his second wife, Sarah Adriana, was a very sickly child (who would eventually grow into an equally sickly adult). Poor health first deprived the boy of full communication with other children, and later forced him to abandon his dream to follow in his father's footsteps and become an architect. At the age of seven, at the very time when most of his peers were kicking the ball and making their first “lifetime” friends, Maurits had to spend whole year away from home and family. The parents sent the boy for treatment to the small seaside town of Zandvoort, which until recently was just a fishing village.Since childhood, Escher had one amazing feature He could become invisible. For this ability, if necessary, to "merge with the terrain" (and, for example, not to catch the eye of the teacher), Maurits was disliked by both classmates and teachers. Studying at school was given to him with great difficulty, and he never really aspired to study well. The boy received poor grades even in drawing, which he loved very much and achieved impressive success in it. During the years of study, Escher flunked so many exams that he could not even get a matriculation certificate. But school education at the same time by some miracle completed. Apparently, the teachers just wanted to get rid of the strange boy as soon as possible, able to be completely invisible and at the same time defiantly spitting on all their moralizing. Maurits was only too happy about it. In general, one gets the impression that all his life he wanted only one thing - that everyone would leave him alone and not interfere with doing what he wanted.
In the footsteps of the fathers
Real friends appeared to Maurits only in his youth. Together with them, he began to take the first steps in art, at first in literature. Together with them, at the age of 24, he will go to Italy, where he will then live for more than ten years. But first, Escher had to put an end to the dream.Maurits showed his first drawing to his family as a child. Biographers of the artist claim that it was a square circle. George Asher looked at the paper and, most likely, thought with satisfaction that he was raising a worthy replacement for himself. Maurits, apparently, was very attached to the parent and tried to impress him in any way. Even one of Escher's first engravings was a portrait of his father. The boy dreamed of a career as an architect and began to take lessons in this specialty at the Delft Technical School. The notorious poor health here also became an insurmountable obstacle for him. Escher studied for only a year, after which he was expelled. It was obvious that he could not become an architect, but Maurits nevertheless decided not to give up and entered the School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. Here he achieved greater success, but by the time he graduated, engraving completely and irrevocably took possession of his thoughts, heart and imagination. So Maurits and George Escher had to say goodbye to one dream for two.
Another person to whom Escher had a strong affection was his mentor Samuel de Mesquita, who taught the lithographer in Haarlem. After moving to Italy, Escher corresponded with the teacher until his death. In 1944, the entire family of Mesquita, a Jew by origin, was arrested by the Nazis, and soon after that he died in gas chamber Auschwitz. Escher managed to save many of the mentor's works, which he later sent to the Amsterdam Museum. At home, he left only one sketch of Mesquita with a terrible “engraving” imprinted on it - the footprint of a German soldier's boot. Later, he would create his own engraving with footprints in the mud and the sky reflected in a puddle.
world conquest
Escher is often deliberately taken out of the circle of representatives of modern painting, it is customary to portray him as a kind of cracker with a mindset more mathematical than creative. It is even surprising how a person so immersed in his favorite business managed to start a family. With Jetta Wimiker 25-year-old Maurits met while traveling in Italy. For a long time he did not dare to confess to the girl his feelings, and did it literally in last moment. In 1924 they got married and settled near Rome. Asher and Jetta have lived together for over 40 years and have three sons. Only in 1968 did the wife leave the artist and leave for her native Switzerland.In the 20s, Escher's engravings were still very far from those that brought him world fame and a knighthood. While most of his work was dedicated to dearly beloved Italy. Fields and hills, fortresses, cathedrals and narrow streets... It seemed that he could paint Italian landscapes endlessly. But already in them one can see an unmistakably recognizable style in which later works Escher( , , , , ).
In Italy, the artist lived with his family until 1935, and was forced to leave because of the tense political situation (despite the fact that Mussolini himself was present at the christening of his first child).
Throughout his life, Escher moved and traveled a lot. And he became famous primarily for his landscapes. First personal exhibition artist took place in 1923. Most of his contemporaries at the age of 25 could only dream of this. And, despite the fact that sometimes he experienced financial difficulties, his popularity only grew every year. But the truly triumphant procession of Escher's works around the world began in the mid-50s after his first exhibition in the United States. It is difficult to imagine how much more the artist could have done if not for poor health, which caused him more and more inconvenience with age. During his life, Escher underwent several operations, spent the last two years in a nursing home and died of cancer at the age of 73.
Guide
Fish , birds and lizards. Most of Escher's "mosaic" works, including the famous Metamorphoses, were written by him thanks to several trips to Spain, in particular, to the Alhambra. The Moorish style and the strict patterns of Muslim craftsmen made an indelible impression on him. But Escher quickly moves away from simple geometric shapes and begins to "animate" them - birds and reptiles come to replace the squares and hexagons - and then completely "revives", forcing the drawn lizards to go beyond the drawing.Scientific approach. In his works, Escher used various techniques based on mathematical principles, and turned complex geometric figures into works of art ("Gravity", 1952). But the artist gained the greatest popularity among crystallographers (the basis of this science is the principle of symmetry). In 1960, Escher gave a lecture in Cambridge on symmetry at an international crystallographic conference. Some scholars still use his works (such as "Day and Night", 1938) as illustrations for their articles.
Impossible architecture. The engravings that made Escher famous all over the world, where space is turned inside out, where people climb stairs leading down, and the water flowing down from the mill wheel flows upward, combine optical illusions, non-Euclidean geometry and imp art techniques. The impossible geometric figures created by the scientist Roger Penrose had a serious influence on the artist. Playing with the imagination of the viewer, Escher in each engraving creates own world impossible, in which everything is possible.
Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (Maurits Cornelis Escher) was born June 17, 1898 in Leewarden, the capital of the Dutch province of Friesland. He was the third son of engineer G. A. Escher and his second wife, the daughter of a minister. The house where Escher was born is now a museum. IN 1903 the family of G.A. Ashera moves to the city A Rnhem, capital of the Dutch province of G e lderland.
WITH 1907 year Maurice learns carpentry and playing the piano. IN 1912-1918 years he studied at high school. Maurice's grades in all subjects were poor except for drawing. The art teacher noticed the boy's talent and taught him how to make woodcuts. IN 1913 In the year Asher met a guy at the school of religion, named Bas Kist (he followed in the footsteps of his parents there, although he was never particularly religious), who would become his best friend. Both were interested in printing technology. IN 1916 In the year Escher performs his first graphic work, an engraving on purple linoleum - a portrait of his father G. A. Escher. IN 1917 Escher visits the studio of the artist Gert Stiegemann, who had a printing press. Escher's first engravings were printed on this machine. This year, the Escher family moves to the Dutch town of Oosterbeek, located in the vicinity of Arnhem. IN 1918-1919 years Escher attends the Technical College in the Dutch town of Delft. He receives a deferment from military service to continue his studies, but due to poor health, Maurice could not cope with curriculum, and was expelled. As a result, Escher never graduated.
Still hoping to get an architecture degree in 1919-1922 years, young Escher studies at the School of Architecture and Ornament in the city of Gaarlem, the administrative center of the province of North Holland. There he takes drawing lessons from Samuel J. e serena de m e Squite, who had a formative influence on Escher's life and work.
IN 1921 Escher's family visited the Riviera and Italy. Fascinated by the vegetation and flowers of the Mediterranean climate, Maurice made detailed drawings of cacti and olive trees. He drew many sketches mountain scenery which later formed the basis of his work.
Escher begins to experiment in a new direction for himself and his woodcuts are published in the humorous booklet "Easter Flowers", even then in his works there are mirror images, crystal figures and spheres. Escher's first large-circulation printed work was Saint Francis (Sermon to the Birds). In search of new ideas, Maurice Escher again decides to go to Italy
Italy and Spain
In April 1922 Escher leaves Arnhem with two friends. Two friends, after a two-week stay in Florence, returned to Holland, and Escher went to San Giminano with the sister of one of them. There, as well as in the cities of Voltaire and Siena, he made a series of sketches. All spring 1922 he spent years wandering around Italy, sketching landscapes, plants and even insects. In Assissi he meets a fellow pen - Dutch artist Gerretsen, whom he sees periodically over the next few years.
Returning home in June, Escher realizes that he can no longer work in the same conditions, and decides to return to southern Europe at the first opportunity. He goes with his friends on a yacht, saving money by taking care of his friends' young children. On this journey, Maurice first sees the phenomenon of the phosphorescent sea, which he will later demonstrate in a painting with by the same name. In Spain, Escher is present at bullfights and visits the famous Prado Museum in Madrid. Missing the express, Escher spends 24 hours on a local train to get to Granada. In Granada, Escher visits the Alhambra, where he meets Arab decorative styles and copies one of them.
On the ship, Escher travels from Spain to Italy. After a short trip through Italy, he spends several months in Siena. At this time, he works very intensively, which was helped by the “blessed”, in his own words, atmosphere of the city.
In March 1923 Escher continues to work and travel. At the end of the month, the family of the Swiss industrialist Umiker arrives at the boarding house where Maurice is staying. A few months later, Escher paints a portrait of his daughter, Jetta Umiker. A little later, he realized that he was in love, but he was not sure of the reciprocal feelings. At the very last moment, when the Umikers were about to leave, he decided to confess his love and the young people were engaged.
In August 1923 The first solo exhibition of Maurice Escher took place in Siena, but he paid very little attention to this turning point for any artist. He was infatuated with Jetta and proposed to her in mid-August, and on August 28 he arrived in Zurich for a formal meeting with his family. Maurice decided to marry and live in Italy.
1924 The year was very eventful. In February, his solo exhibition took place in Holland. On June 12, his wedding took place in Viareggi in Italy. The newlyweds visited Genoa, Anneki and Brussels. In October they went to France and then returned to Italy. During the journey, Escher studied various architectural styles Europe. At the end of 1924, the newlyweds bought a house under construction in the town of Frascati near Rome. And although the construction of the house was completed in March 1925 year, they settled there only in October.
A little after moving to new house there is an accident with the brother of Maurice, who was engaged in mountaineering. The brother died and Asher went to identify the body. After this tragedy, he created the famous woodcut "Days of Creation" (Days of Creation).
In June 1926 Escher buys a new house under construction b O larger than the previous one, due to the addition to the family. George Asher was born at the end of July. The growing fame of Maurice Escher is evidenced by the fact that King Emmanuel and Mussolini were present at the christening of his son.
Happy life with his wife and child in Rome in the late twenties proved to be a very fruitful period for Maurice. His work has been shown at many exhibitions in Holland, and to 1929 In the same year, his popularity reached such a level that in one year five solo exhibitions were held in Holland and Switzerland. It was during this period that Escher's paintings were first called mechanical and "logical". The paintings depicted mountain landscapes, but there were also commercial illustrations. The most famous picture from that period - an engraving of the mountain village of Castrovalva, completed in February 1930 of the year. Then in 1930 year the second son, Arthur, was born.
At the end 1930 and in 1931 In the year Maurice is sick a lot and there is a break in work. Such breaks occur periodically throughout the life of the artist. This break ended with his meeting in Rome with the director of the Dutch Historical Institute, G. J. Hugewerf, who offered to write an article on Escher's work and publish several of his works in it. Selected works are published in book form. Emblemata V 1932 year. At the end 1933 Escher writes several lithographs for a horror book The Terrible Adventures of Scholastica.
In 1934, Maurice Escher received the third prize for the painting "Nonza, Corsica" ( Nonza) at an exhibition in Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago bought this painting. It was the first painting sold in America.
This year, Escher and his family go to the seashore, and then sail to Belgium.
Back north.
In summer 1935 Escher arrives in The Hague on business at his parents' house. During the visit, Escher does one important thing - he paints. detailed portrait father. The engraving was completed in August and printed for family members only.
In August 1935 Maurice and his family move to a new home in Château d'Eu in Switzerland. Jetta resumes his piano lessons, and Escher enters the local chess club. The children enjoy the snow. In December, Maurice makes a lithograph of a farmhouse on a snowy mountainside, but is disappointed with the result His son George would later say that his father yearned for the warmth of Italy.
At first 1936 Escher decides to head back to southern Europe. He approaches shipping companies with an offer to make paintings of the ships and ports operated by the companies in exchange for a free voyage. To his surprise, the Adria company agreed to his proposal, and in April Escher went to Trieste, where he was met with great respect and courtesy in the Adria office.
On the ships of the company, Escher visits Venice, Ancona, Bari, Catania, Palermo, Genoa and several other Italian and Sicilian cities. Jetta joins him in mid-May. During the journey, Escher makes a large number of sketches. As a result, nine woodcuts were made. It was the last big Adventure according to Maurice's favorite Mediterranean Italy.
In June, after returning from a trip to mediterranean sea Escher's family visits several Swiss lakes, and then goes to The Hague to stay with their parents. The journey was very successful, and it was the successful completion of the first phase of the artist's career. On September 1, the Eschers return home to the Château d'Eu, and Escher's graphic works begin to gradually take on a different direction.
Metamorphoses
By the end 1936 Escher completes most of the engravings for the Adria company. Also based on travel sketches, he creates his first painting of the impossible reality Still Life with Street.
Then in 1936 In the year he visits the Alhambra for the second time for a detailed study of the Moorish mosaics. This trip and resettlement from Italy intensify the changes in the artist's work.
In the middle 1937 Escher's family again moves to a new place of residence, this time in Ukkel, a suburb of Brussels. In October, Escher shows his brother Beer a mosaic painting he was working on at the time. Beer, a professor of geology, was impressed with the work and saw in it opportunities for applying Escher's ideas to crystallography.
IN 1938 Escher continues to experiment with mosaics and transformations. He creates a mosaic in the form of two birds flying towards each other, which formed the basis of the painting "Day and Night".
A few months later, Escher began work on one of his most important paintings. IN 1937 In the year he created the engraving "Metamorphoses", which shows how one of the blocks of the city turns into a man. On new picture"Metamorphoses-2" presents a sequence of 10 transformations. This is Escher's largest painting, measuring 19 cm by 3.9 m.
In May 1940 year the Nazis occupy Holland and Belgium, and on May 17, Brussels also falls into the zone of occupation. At the end of May, Escher's mother dies. Due to hostilities, Maurice is late for her funeral. End 1940 Maurice takes a year to complete his mother's affairs, as well as to decorate the town hall in Leiden. He and Jetta find a house in Barn (Holland) and move there in February 1941 of the year. Until the end of his days, Escher will live in this city.
Holland, war, glory
1st of February 1944 the Nazis, who persecuted the Jews, arrest Escher's teacher, Samuel de Mesquite. Nobody saw him again. Escher helps transport de Mesquite's work to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. He keeps only one sketch of de Mesquite, which left the imprint of a German boot. Escher keeps this sketch until the end of his days. After the war in 1946 Escher arranges a memorial exhibition, dedicated to creativity de Mesquite at the Stedelijk Museum.
IN 1946 Escher became interested in gravure printing technology. And although this technology was much more complicated than the one used by Escher before and required more time to create a picture, the results were impressive - thin lines and accurate shadow reproduction. One of the most famous works in gravure printing "Dewdrop" was completed in 1948 year.
IN 1949 Escher, with two other artists, arranges a large exhibition of his paintings. In addition to the exhibition, artists talk and demonstrate their technique of creating images. During the exhibition some works by Maurice Escher were sold, including one of the huge "Metamorphoses".
After publishing articles in two magazines, Escher becomes famous in America. Journal correspondent The Studio Israel Schenker interviews the artist at his home in Barn. The interview was done at the end 1950 year and published at the beginning 1951 years in the magazine Time, and later in the magazine life.
Escher sometimes creates models of some of the objects for his paintings in clay, wood, wire, and other materials. For example, as George Asher says, when working on the famous painting "Reptiles" 1943 year, where small crocodiles crawl out of the mosaic, go over the books on the table and turn into a mosaic again, he fashioned a figurine of a crocodile from plasticine and placed it sequentially on the table among other objects to paint the whole picture. Also, using models, the painting "House of Stairs" was created, completed in 1951 year.
Popularity
IN 1950 Maurice Escher is gaining popularity as a lecturer. Then in 1950 This year he has his first solo exhibition in the United States.
IN 1956-57 years, the artist completes several of his most famous works including "Three Worlds". At this time, a large number of his works are sold. For example, he received a check from a Washington dealer for $2,125 for 150 of his prints. Today it is not so large sum(today one Escher's work of that time is worth more), but the artist was grateful for that too.
IN 1957 year, the artist is offered to make a fresco in the Dutch city of Utrecht. In October 1958, George Asher graduated from the university and emigrated to Canada.
In the mid-1950s, Escher combines mosaics with figures reaching into infinity. Starting to use this technique in Less and Less, he continued it in Whirlpools, and so on until his last work, Serpents. Before 1958 year, Maurice Escher depicts objects that decrease as they approach the center of the picture, and after 1958 year, he depicts figures that decrease as they move away from the center of the picture. Moreover, the change in direction is associated with the study by Escher of an article by Professor Coxeter from Ottawa, who illustrated a system of samples that decrease as they move away from the center. An interpretation of the Coxeter effect is observed in at least six works by Maurice Escher.
IN 1959 Escher meets Professor MacGillavry, after which the artist speaks at the International Congress of Crystallography in England on the topic of symmetry. also in 1959 In the same year he received a copy of an article by Lionel and Roger Penrose on impossible figures. The article mentioned some early work Escher, but there was also something new. Ascending and Descending (1960) is based on the famous Penrose stairs.
In the early 60s, the first book with the works of Escher was published. Grafiek en Tekeningen, in which 76 works were commented on by the author himself. The book has helped gain understanding among mathematicians and crystallographers, including some in Russia and Canada. In August 1960 Escher lectured on crystallography at Cambridge.
Last years
The mathematical and crystallographic aspects of Escher's work are becoming very popular. IN 1965 Professor Caroline McGillavrey published the book Aspects of Symmetry in the Work of M.C. Escher.
IN 1964 Escher again goes to America to see his son and give a few lectures. But he suddenly fell ill and after an operation in Toronto, he and his wife returned to Holland. The lectures, which were entirely written by Escher, were published 20 years later in the book Escher on Escher.
Escher's wife was never happy in Barn and in 1968 She returned to Switzerland, where she spent the rest of her life. Escher stayed in Barn and plunged into work. And, although his health was deteriorating, he continued to create woodcuts.
IN 1970 After a new series of surgeries, Escher moved to a new home in Laren, the Netherlands, which included a studio but ill health prevented him from working much. He continues to correspond with many friends around the world, including school friend Basa Kista. An exhaustive book about the life and work of the artist was published. Escher lived long enough to see the book The World of M.C. Escher ( The World of M. K. Escher) translated into English language and was very pleased with it.
Last work, completed by Escher - "Snakes".
In March 1972 years, the artist's health deteriorated greatly. The whole family gathered near the patient's bed. Maurice Escher passed away on March 27 at the age of 73.
