Escher, Maurits Cornelis - National Gallery Canada

M.C. Escher: The Mathemagician

Maurits Cornelis Escher was a skilled draughtsman, book illustrator, tapestry design and muralist, but he is best-known for his prints that reflect his fascination with order, symmetry and spatial logic.

Featuring 54 works drawn from the Gallery’s extensive collection 

>> Maurits Cornelis Escher * 1898 Leeuwarden † 1972 Hilversum

of  prints, this exhibition presents (20.12.2014 - 03.05.2015) the various themes that fascinated this unique artist.

The works selected for M.C. Escher: The Mathemagician, trace the artist’s career, beginning with the rare woodcut Eight Heads (1922), which illustrates his early interest in patterns of interlocking repetitive shapes, a kind of representation that would later make him famous.

The exhibition also includes examples of the different printmaking processes in which Escher was proficient, from woodcuts (Circular Limit III, 1959), to lithographs (Bond of Union, 1956), and even mezzotint (Mummified Frog, 1946), an extremely laborious technique. Visitors will discover his passion for the Italian landscape (Bonifacio, Corsica, 1928), for perception (Print Gallery, 1956) and for impossible architectures (Relativity, 1953). (Text: National Gallery Canada)