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M.C. Escher

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Ingrid Muskovy

M.C. Escher

Artist Biography

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M.C. Escher

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world's most famous graphic artists. His art, prints and posters are enjoyed by millions of people all over the world. He is most famous for his so-called impossible structures, but he also made some wonderful, more realistic work during the time he lived and traveled in Italy. M.C. Escher, during his lifetime, made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings and over 2000 drawings and sketches. Like some of his famous predecessors, - Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Durer and Holbein-, M.C. Escher was left-handed.

M.C. Escher was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, as the fourth and youngest son of a civil engineer. After 5 years the family moved to Arnhem where Escher spent most of his youth. After failing his high school exams, Maurits ultimately was enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. After only one week, he informed his father that he would rather study graphic art instead of architecture, as he had shown his drawings and linoleum cuts to his graphic teacher Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, who encouraged him to continue with graphic arts.

After finishing school, he traveled extensively through Italy, where he met his wife Jetta Umiker, whom he married in 1924. They settled in Rome, where they stayed until 1935. During these 11 years, Escher would travel each year throughout Italy, drawing and sketching for the various prints he would make when he returned home. Many of these sketches he would later use for various other lithographs and/or woodcuts and wood engravings. He played with architecture, perspective and impossible spaces. His art, prints and posters continue to amaze and wonder millions of people all over the world. 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.

M.C. Escher Art, Prints and Posters Collection