"Escher" Exhibition

Sogo Museum of Art

Finished

Artists

Maurits Cornelis Escher

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was born in the town of Leeuwarden, North Netherlands, the 5th son of civil engineer George Arnold Escher. Although he entered a university in Haarlem at the age of 21 to study architecture, he soon transferred to the printmaking department, where he met his lifetime mentor Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita (1868-1944). Until graduating from the school in 1922, Escher traveled around South Europe including Italy and Spain, producing prints during the trip that depicted landscapes of the sites he visited. The shock of his life came about in September 1922, when he saw the geometric patterns of the Alhambra palace in Granada, an incident which had a tremendous influence on his later artistic style.

Since 1923, Escher lived in places across Italy such as Ravello and Rome. Due to the war, however, he relocated in Switzerland in 1935. Being away from his beloved Italy, he changed his style from figurative and familiar landscapes and still lifes to something more geometric and imaginary.

From the Huistenbosch Museum collection, this exhibition showcases a series of prints depicting Italian landscapes entitled "24 Allegories", as well as work that portrays an enigmatic world through the use of optical tricks as typified by "Day and Night". The 120 pieces on view also include original woodblocks, documents associated with the Escher family and work by his contemporaries.

Schedule

Oct 10 (Sat) 2009-Nov 16 (Mon) 2009