ART HERITAGE PROGRAMMesa County Valley School District 51

Grand Junction, CO

crbrady ©2008

M. C. Escher

1898 – 1972

Copyright 4/2008. Property of the Mesa County Valley School District 51, Grand Junction, CO. This article was created for the express use of the Art Heritage Program for educational purposes only. No part may be copied in part or in whole without permission.

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The information contained within this artist unit is a compilation of information gleaned from several sources, some unknown. If credit has not been properly given, please contact our office so this can be corrected.

M. C. Escher

M. C. Escher was born in 1889 in Holland. He was an artist who created very detailed drawings, prints and paintings.

Escher is known for using “tessellations” as an art form. A tessellation is a special kind of design made from shapes that fit together perfectly and have no spaces in between.

He explored a branch of mathematics, the formation of crystals, and came up with the formulas on his own. Escher knew instinctively what scientists later proved...there is natural symmetry that is observable (like the shape of trees, or the formation of snowflakes).

“Every person is the center of their own world.”

M. C. Escher

SELF-PORTRAIT IN SPHERE: 1935

2. REPTILES: 1943: Lithograph: 13 1/8" x 15 1/8":

3. METAMORPHOSE III: 1967-68: Woodcut: Second State: 7 ½" x 22 1/3": Printed from 33 blocks on a combined sheet, mounted on canvas and partly colored by hand:

4. SKY AND WATER I: 1938: Woodcut: 17 1/8" x 17 1/4":

5. DAY AND NIGHT: 1938: Woodcut: Printed from 2 blocks. 15 3/8" x 26 5/8":

“Whoever wants to portray something that does not exist has to obey certain rules. Those rules are more

or less the same as for the teller of fairy tales: he must produce contrasts; he must cause a shock.”

6. REGULAR DIVISION OF PLANE IV: 1957: Woodcut: 9 ½" x 7 1/8":

7. OTHER WORLD: 1947: Wood engraving and woodcut in black, reddish-brown and green, cut from 3 blocks:

8. RELATIVITY: 1953: 11 1/8" x 11 5/8":

9. DEPTH: 1955: Wood Engraving, Woodcut: 12 5/8" x 9":

10. SMALLER AND SMALLER: 1956: Wood Engraving and Woodcut: Made from 4 blocks: 15" x 15":

11. BOND OF UNION: 1956; Lithograph: 10" x 13 3/8":

12. MOBIUS STRIP II (RED ANTS): 1963: Woodcut printed from 3 blocks: 17 7/8" x 8 1/8":

M. C. Escher died in 1972. His art has continued to amaze millions of people all over the world. He played with architecture, perspective and impossible spaces.

In his work we recognize his keen observation of the world around us and the expressions of his own fantasies. M.C. Escher shows us that reality is wondrous, comprehensible and fascinating.

What I give form to in daylightis only one per cent

of what I have seen in darkness.

Quoted in D MacHale, Comic Sections (Dublin 1993)