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Maurits
Cornelis Escher
Jun 17, 1898 - Mar 27, 1972
Birthplace:
Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
Educated: Technical College: Delft, Holland; School for
Architecture and Decorative Arts: Haarlem, Holland
Residences:
Holland, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands
Expertise:
Graphic Art, Tessellations, Lithography, Spatial Illusions
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M.C.
Escher was a Dutch graphic artist. Escher, the fourth and youngest son of
a civil engineer, was (and still is) most recognized for his spatial
illusions, impossible buildings, repeating geometric patterns (called
tessellations), and his groundbreaking lithography and woodcutting
techniques. To this day, renowned mathematicians and scientists study him.
Escher was not versed in mathematics, nor did he consider himself an
artist.
During
his lifetime, M.C. Escher, made 448 lithographs, woodcuts, and wood
engravings and over 2000 drawings and sketches. Like Michelangelo,
Leonardo da Vinci, and other artistic geniuses that came before him, M.C.
Escher was left-handed.
Escher
attended the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. After
just a single week of school, he told his father that he would pursue
graphic art, not architecture. Having shown his drawings and linoleum cuts
to his graphic arts teacher Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, who encouraged
his study of graphic arts, his decision was made.
After completing his formal education, he traveled through Italy, where he
met his future wife, Jetta Umiker. They married in 1924 and settled in
Rome, where they stayed until 1935. Each year, Escher traveled throughout
Italy, drawing and sketching for prints he would make upon his return
home. He played with architecture, and impossible spaces. His art, a
reflection of his perspective of the world around us, continues to
fascinate millions of people all over the world.
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