Mc escher dutch biography video

After primary and secondary school, he studied architecture for a short time before moving on to study decorative arts. During this part of his education, Escher learned to create woodcuts and made more progress with his drawing. In , M. Escher spent time traveling through Spain and Italy. These travels were important to the artist.

In addition to being inspired by the architecture and landscapes that he experiences during this time, he also met the woman who he was to marry. Jetta Umiker. The couple moved a number of times within Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium during the early years of their marriage. In , they were forced to move once again due to World War II.

This time, they moved to the Netherlands and remained there for nearly thirty years. Escher is best know for his woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. His work often showcases architecturally impossible structures, tessellations, metamorphosis, and experiments with infinity. During the course of his career, he was awarded a Knighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

At the age of 73, M. Escher passed away on 27 March Like many of his Italian works, this is a detailed and accurate portrayal but despite the image's realism it maintains an air of fantasy. This drama is heightened by the overall darkness of the image and the strong contrast between these tones and the paler highlights. Castrovalva also demonstrates Escher's early interest in spatial relationships and his attempts to capture three-dimensionality on paper.

The work encompasses a wide field of vision from high to low and near to far and this gives the piece multiple points of focus from the carefully rendered plants in the foreground to the sheer sides of the buildings to the distant mountains silhouetted at the end of the valley. Whilst Castrovalva is approached with realism Escher also created images in this period which were more fantastical such as The Bridge which incorporates realistic architectural elements into an imaginary framework.

Lithograph - National Gallery of Canada Hand with Reflecting Sphere One of the last paintings from his Italian period, this lithograph depicts Escher sitting in his studio in Rome, reflected in a mirrored sphere which is held in one of his hands. Light from the window at the far end of the room highlights the furniture behind Escher and casts a shadow across his face creating depth within the portrait.

Some of his other works can be seen framed on the walls of the studio. The work is representative of his increasing fascination with visual illusions, mirrored reflections, and perceptual self-references. The plain background of the work focuses attention onto the reflection but also causes the viewer to question the accuracy of the depiction, the hand and sphere appear to exist in a void in which only the reflection is real.

This enigma is further enhanced by the fact that Escher gazes directly out of the picture instead of representing himself drawing the image. The fact that his face appears directly in the center of the sphere indicates his mastery over the illusion. This self-portrait forms part of a much older practice of artists painting themselves reflected in convex surfaces with key examples including Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror by Parmigianino and Caravaggio's Medusa In his work Escher is both acknowledging this tradition through his detailed study of his own reflection and subverting it through the depiction of the mechanics of its creation.

Lithograph - Rosenwald Collection Day and Night This was Escher's most popular print, of which he made over copies during his lifetime. It depicts a flock of birds flying in opposite directions over a rural landscape. The town is mirrored precisely on both sides of the picture but presented in daylight on the left and nighttime on the right.

The squares of the fields metamorphize into the birds which then tesselate with each other across the top of the image utilizing the spaces between animals to enable the transition. This complex composition showcases the merging of earth and sky, night and day and different living creatures into one another. The regular chequerboard nature of the fields can be seen as a reference to 17th century Dutch art in which dramatic perspective and black and white tiled floors were prominent features The birds form part of a wider canon of Escher's work in which animals are either tessellated across the whole image Escher called this 'regular division of the plane' or one animal becomes another through the use of interlocking designs and negative space.

These works were originally motivated by Escher's second visit to the Alhambra, a building which he considered to be "the richest source of inspiration that I have ever tapped". He initially created work utilizing the abstract geometrical elements he saw there, but gradually replaced these with stylized figures of animals, as seen here. The work can be viewed from two perspectives and the eye naturally moves between the two.

The bird's eye view, looking down on the landscape below, contrasts with the direct perspective where the birds are viewed straight on.

Mc escher dutch biography video

The two perspectives are linked by the diagonal lines on the fields and on the birds' wings and these give a sense of movement upwards and in the direction of travel of the birds, removing the distinction between foreground and background. Woodcut - University of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery Relativity Portraying an interior space consisting of multiple staircases leading in many directions and opening up to different, light-filled exterior spaces, Relativity is part of Escher's 'impossible constructions' series.

Of these works Escher stated, "I can't keep from fooling around with irrefutable certainties" and to 'make fun of gravity'. The piece can be viewed from numerous perspectives and from each of these the localized architectural environment makes sense. By allowing the orientation of the viewer to shift depending on which viewpoint is followed, the scenes are open to a continuous cycle of interpretation.

The confusing nature of the composition is further enhanced by the strong contrasts of light and dark and the inclusion of faceless mannequin-like figures who continue to carry out normal tasks in the abnormal setting around them. He was impressed by the architectures and they became a powerful influence on his work. They stayed in Rome until , along 11 years, he traveled all over Italy, drawing and scetching for the various prints he would make when he returned home.

Facts about Mc Escher 6: Exhibitions In the twenty-first century, the major exhibitions have been held in cities around the world. They go to Rome, where they live until During these 11 years M. Escher travels every year through Italy where he makes drawings and sketches that he later uses in his studio for his lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings.

For example, the background in the lithograph Waterfall comes from his Italian period. The trees that are reflected in the woodcut Puddle are also the same trees that he uses in his woodcut Pineta by Calvi, made in During the time that he lives and works in Italy, he makes beautiful, also more realistic works such as the Castrovalva litho in which one can see already his fascination for perspective: close, far, high and low.