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M. C. Escher
1898 - 1972
INTRODUCTION
Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world's most famous graphic artists. His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world, as can be seen on the many web sites on the internet. He is most famous for his so-called impossible structures, such as Ascending and Descending, Relativity, his Transformation Prints, such as Metamorphosis I, Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, Sky & Water I or Reptiles. But he also made some wonderful, more realistic work during the time he lived and traveled in Italy.

THE MAN

Maurtis Cornelis Escher, or Mauk as he was called by his parents was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He was the youngest son of a hydraulics engineer, George Escher, and wife Sarah, who was George's second wife. Maurtis lived with his four older brothers, Arnold, Johan, Berend, and Edmond. The family moved to Arnhem in 1903 where he took piano and carpentry lessons until the age of thirteen. Escher attended both elementary and secondary school in Arnhem between 1912 and 1918, but he did not fair well in many subjects. He did though, exhibit an early interest in both music and Carpentry. Later in his life Escher traveled across Europe, moving from place to place. He married Jetta Umiker after falling in love with her, and they had a child. M.C. Escher died at the age of 73 On March 27,1972.

You can find a more in depth biography on this page.

The Life of M.C. Escher

THE ARTIST

The main subjects of Escher's early art are Rome and the Italian landscape. After 1937 Escher turned from the observation of nature to the study of its underlying structure. In his images based on visual paradoxes and laws of symmetry, the worlds of fine art and science converge. Escher’s work has a strong mathematical component, many of the worlds that he drew were built around impossible objects. Many of Escher’s works used repeated tiling called Tessellations. Mathematicians and especially crystallographers - those scientists who study the forms and structure of crystals - have been intrigued by Escher's exploration of such problems as the division of the plane into regular interlocking patterns and the geometric construction of "impossible" structures. Although Escher's prints were widely admired during his lifetime, it was not until 1954 that he had his first American exhibition in a commercial gallery in Washington, D.C. Since 1964 the National Gallery of Art has formed the preeminent collection of Escher's art outside Holland through the generosity of many donors, including Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt and Lessing J. Rosenwald, both of whom knew Escher personally.

THE MATHEMATICIAN

Escher is known for his symmetrical and mathematical works. His works are used in classrooms all over the world to give students and example of other things they can accomplish with mathematics. Some of his artwork uses repeated tiling called Tesselations.
LIST OF WORKS
(not complete)
Dream
 
1930 Castrovalva (Abruzzi) 
1934 Still Life with Mirror   
1935 Hand with Reflecting Sphere
1938 Day and Night 
1938 Sky and Water II 
c. 1942 Fish 
1943 Reptiles 
1946 Eye 
1947 Up and Down 
1948 Drawing Hands 
1948 Sun and Moon 
1952 Puddle 
1953 Relativity 
1954 Tetrahedral Planetoid
1955 Three Worlds 
1956 Bond of Union 
1958 Belvedere 
1960 Ascending and Descending 
1961 Waterfall 
1963 Moebius Strip II (Red Ants)
Dew Drop

ESCHER ART COLLECTOIN
SOURCES

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