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M. C. Escher

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Maurits Cornelis Escher
File:EscherSelf1929.jpgM.C. Escher (self-portrait)
NationalityNetherlands Dutch
Known fordrawing, lithography
Notable workRelativity, Waterfall, Hand with Reflecting Sphere
AwardsKnighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau

Maurits Cornelis Escher (June 17 1898 – March 27 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture and tessellations.

Early life

Maurits Cornelis, or "Mauk" as he came to be nicknamed, was born in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. He was the youngest son of civil engineer George Arnold Escher and his second wife, Sara Gleichman. He was a sickly child, and was placed in a special school at the age of seven and failed the second grade. In 1903, the family moved to Arnhem where he took carpentry and piano lessons until he was thirteen years old.

From 1903 until 1918 he attended primary and secondary school. Though he excelled at drawing, his grades were generally poor. In 1919, Escher attended the Haarlem School of Architecture and Decorative Arts. He briefly studied architecture, but failed a number of subjects (partly due to a persistent skin infection) and switched to decorative arts. Here he studied under Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, with whom he would remain friends for years. In 1922 Escher left the school, having gained experience in drawing and making woodcuts.

Later life

In 1922, an important year in his life, Escher traveled through Italy (Florence, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena) and Spain (Madrid, Toledo, Granada). He was impressed by the Italian countryside and by the Alhambra, a fourteenth-century Moorish castle in Granada, Spain. He came back to Italy regularly in the following years. In Italy he met Jetta Umiker, whom he married in 1924. The young couple settled down in Rome and stayed there until 1935, when the political climate under Mussolini became unbearable. Their son, Giorgio Arnaldo Escher, named after his grandfather, was born in Rome. The family next moved to Château-d'Œx, Switzerland where they remained for two years.

Escher, who had been very fond of and inspired by the landscapes in Italy, was decidedly unhappy in Switzerland, so in 1937, the family moved again, to Ukkel, a small town near Brussels, Belgium. World War II forced them to move in January 1941, this time to Baarn, the Netherlands, where Escher lived until 1970. Most of Escher's better-known pictures date from this period. The sometimes cloudy, cold, wet weather of the Netherlands allowed him to focus intently on his works, and only during 1962, when he underwent surgery, was there a time when no new images were created.

On April 30 1955, Escher was awarded a Knighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Escher moved to the Rosa-Spier house in Laren in 1970, a retirement home for artists where he had his own studio. He died at the home on March 27 1972, at 73 years of age.


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Legacy

In 1968 (four years before his death), Escher established The M.C. Escher Foundation "to preserve the legacy of his work." The M.C. Escher Foundation continues to promote Escher's work by organizing exhibitions, publishing books and producing films about his life and work. It does not, however, serve as Escher's official Estate.

The M.C. Escher Company B.V. functions as the official Estate and serves as the exclusive worldwide representative of the M.C. Escher Copyrights. It manages all copyrights to M.C. Escher's work, including all painting, drawings and text, both spoken and written. Although based in the Netherlands, the M.C. Escher Company B.V. is very active in pursuing copyright infringements in the U.S., most recently winning an infringement case against US merchandiser, Rock Walker.

Namesake

The asteroid 4444 Escher, discovered in 1985, was named after him.

Selected list of works

Bibliography

  • M.C. Escher, The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher, Ballantine, 1971. Includes Escher's own commentary.
  • M.C. Escher, The Fantastic World of M.C. Escher, Video collection of examples of the development of his art, and interviews, Director, Michele Emmer.
  • Locher, J.L. (2000). The Magic of M. C. Escher. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-6720-0.
  • Ernst, Bruno; Escher, M.C. (1995). The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher (Taschen Series). TASCHEN America Llc. ISBN 1-886155-00-3 Escher's art with commentary by Ernst on Escher's life and art, including several pages on his use of polyhedra.
  • Abrams (1995). The M.C. Escher Sticker Book. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-2638-5 .
  • "Escher, M. C.." The World Book Encyclopedia. 10th ed. 2001.
  • O'Connor, J. J. "Escher." Escher. 01 2000. University of St Andrews, Scotland. 17 June 2005. http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Escher.html.
  • Schattschneider, Doris and Walker, Wallace. M. C. Escher Kaleidocycles, Pomegranate Communications; Petaluma, California, 1987. ISBN 0-906212-28-6.
  • Schattschneider, Doris. M.C. Escher : visions of symmetry, New York, N.Y. : Harry N. Abrams, 2004. ISBN 0-8109-4308-5.
  • M.C. Escher's legacy: a centennial celebration; collection of articles coming from the M.C. Escher Centennial Conference, Rome, 1998 / Doris Schattschneider, Michele Emmer (editors). Berlin; London: Springer-Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3-540-42458-X (alk. paper), ISBN 3-540-42458-X (hbk).
  • M.C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work, edited by J. L. Locher, Amsterdam 1981.

References

  1. "We named him Maurits Cornelis after S.'s beloved uncle Van Hall, and called him 'Mauk' for short ....", Diary of Escher's father, quoted in M. C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work, Abradale Press, 1981, p. 9.
  2. ^ Barbara E, PhD. Bryden. Sundial: Theoretical Relationships Between Psychological Type, Talent, And Disease. Gainesville, Fla: Center for Applications of Psychological Type. ISBN 0-935652-46-9.
  3. | The M.C. Escher Foundation website
  4. | The M.C. Escher Company B.V. website
  5. | Cordon Art BV and the MC Escher Foundation article in ArtLaw

See also

External links

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