M C Escher

M C Escher, full name Maurits Cornelis Escher was a dutch painter and graphic artist. He is mainly popular for his works of lithograph and mathematically complex woodcuts.

Escher born on 17 June in 1898 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. His father G A Escher was an Engineer. He started his school at 13. Although he was not extraordinary as a student, his art teacher realized his hidden talent in his childhood.

In 1919 he went to Haarlem to study Architecture and Decorative arts. But when he understood that Architecture is not his passion, he started studying Decorative and Graphic arts. He was very passionate about working with woodcuts.

In 1922 Escher left the art school with a good background of drawing. His teachers were astonished when they looked at his artworks. He kept contact with his teachers for his art’s sake.

Escher went to Italy after leaving art school. He traveled there and made some of his primary woodcut works of the Italian landscape. There he met Jetta Umiker and married her in 1924. After that, the couple went to Rome and their first son George born there in 1926. He went to different places in Italy to make sketches. Though he was not that popular yet, at that time he only experienced few exhibitions.

When the political environment of Italy became rude in 1935, Escher left Italy and went to Switzerland with his family. But Switzerland didn’t attract him as a wonderful place to create artwork. He then invented that he needs to move for doing something better and unforgettable. The journey across the coast of Spain inspired him very much. He visited Granada, where he came to know about Moorish ornamentation and changed his thinking about art.

When the war in Europe started, Escher settled in Baarn, Netherlands. Here his works became very famous. He got his ultimate success after 1955. After that, he became a lecturer in different institutes and wrote books on illustrations. ‘Day and night’, ‘Relativity’ etc. are some of his famous works.

M C Escher moved to Laren in northern Netherlands in 1970. He died there in 1972. His Mathematically complex artworks astonish people even today.