| Maurits Cornelis Escher(1898 - 1972) - Dutch graphic artist. He is popular mainly for his conceptual lithographs, engravings on wood and metal, in which he skillfully studied plastic aspects of concepts, such as infinity and symmetry and also peculiarities of psychological perception of complex three-dimensional objects.
Biography:
Maurits Escher was born on June 17, 1898 in Leeuwarden city, which is an administrative centre of Netherlands province Friesland, in an engineer’s family. In 1903, family relocated to Arnhem, where the boy for some time studied joiner's work and music. From 1912 till 1918, Maurits attended high school. Though from an early age he displayed capabilities towards drawing, his successes in the school were rather mediocre.
In 1919, Escher joined School of Architecture and Decorative Arts in the city of Haarlem. Artist Samuel de Mesquita was Escher’s teacher, who influenced the young Escher hugely (Escher maintained friendly relations with Mesquita till 1944, when Mesquita, a Jew by origin, was destroyed along with family by nazis).
In the early twenties, Escher often traveled to Italy. There in Italy, he met Jetta Umiker for the first time, whom he married in 1924. The couple lived in Rome till 1935 when stay in Italy, under the Mussolini regime became unbearable for them. Then, Eschers shifted to Shato-d'O (Switzerland).
In January 1941, after the beginning of World War II, Eschers returned back to Netherlands. From 1940 upto 1970, they lived in the Dutch city of Baarn. In July 1969, Escher made his last engraving on wood — "Snakes".
Escher died on March 27, 1972 in his house in Laren, in the north of Netherlands.
Creativity:
Escher said about himself once: "Although I am absolutely without training in the exact sciences, I often seem to have more in common with mathematicians than with my fellow artists”.
The witty interpretation of logical and plastic paradoxes are characteristic for the subjects of the "classical" works of M.C. Escher ("Drawing Hands", "Metamorphosis", "Day and Night", "Reptiles", "Encounter”, "House of Stairs" etc.). In conjunction with a masterly technique, this makes a strong impression. Many of the graphic and conceptual findings of Escher were among the symbols of the 20th century and later repeatedly reproduced or "quoted" by other artists.
At the same time, the works of Escher clearly belonged to an elite art. It even led to the criticism of his work as it was unclear to the ordinary viewer.
In the process, the artist took the ideas from mathematical articles, in which tessellated division of plane, projection of three-dimensional shapes on planes, non-Euclidean geometry, "impossible figures" and logic of three-dimensional space were discussed. Although Escher did not belong to the main stream of avant-garde art of the 20th century, his creative work should be considered in the context of Einstein's theory of relativity, Freudian psychoanalysis, Cubism and other achievements in the fields of space, time and approximation.
One of the most distinguished aspects of the creative art of Escher is "metamorphosis", appearing in different forms in many of his works. The artist explores the gradual transition from one geometry to another, through minor changes in contours. In addition, Escher repeatedly made the metamorphosis of living creatures (birds turn into fish etc.) and even "animated", during metamorphosis, inanimate objects, turning them into living beings.
Maurits Escher was one of the first artists to depict fractals in their mosaic patterns. In 1954, during the 12th International Congress of Mathematicians in Amsterdam, an exhibition of works by Escher was opened. The mathematical description of fractals was proposed only in the 1970s (the term "fractal" was incorporated in 1975).
The demonstration of the streamlining of plane sections or the filling of a place with identity forms, which joins each other tightly without gaps, inspired by the "Moorish" medieval style, can be seen on many of the works by Escher.
Landscapes:
During his stay in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, Escher created several landscapes, predominantly woodcuts, carefully drawn and made in an absolutely realistic style (except for the early lithograph "Trees near Menton", reminiscent of the early art work by Piet Mondrian. This was mainly due to Escher traveling to Italy, Corsica and Malta. In 1939, he also made various types of Delfts. The unusual perspective of the views of cities is given from the top or from a distance has been noticed in these landscapes, for example, "Bonifacio, Corsica," or "Roofs of Siena". In later works by Escher, this perspective was developed for creating optical illusions.
Escher Mosaics:
It was mathematically proven that the regular tiling of a plane is possible only by three regular polygons: a triangle, square and a hexagon. Escher was interested in both the regular mosaics as well as in the irregular. In addition, the artist used irregular mosaics (forming non-recurring patterns), he worked a lot with metamorphosis, changing polygons for zoomorphic forms, filling the surface. The inclination towards mosaics emerged in 1936 during a trip to Spain under the influence of the geometric ornaments of Alhambra.
The artist was not only interested with the regular filling of the plane by calling it a game, but also combined experiments with the filling of the plane with experiments with a transition of planes into a volume and vice versa ("Reptiles"). |
Today is the 110th birthday of Maurtis Cornelis Escher - one of the most
famous and recognizable artists in history. Escher's unique vision of
the world combined art, patterns, and mathematics to create some of
the physically impossible yet realistically looking illustrations,
like "Waterfall" and "Ascending and Descending". Quite like some of
his famous predecessors, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Escher
was a left handed artist. In addition to many famous drawings which,
Escher also illustrated books, designed tapestries, and even was hired
by the Dutch government to design new Dutch money in the 50s (the
banknotes were not approved for being too "twisted"). The total
count of Escher's works during his lifetime is over 2000.
