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Convex and Concave 1955 |
Biography
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| Maurits. Cornelis. Escher |
Dutch artist Maurits. C. Escher (1898-1872) was a draftsman, book illustrator, tapestry, and muralist, but his primary work was a paint maker.
Born in Leeuwarden, Holland, the son of a civil engineer, Escher spent most of his childhood in Arnhem. Aspiring to be an architect, Escher enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. While studying there from 1919 to 1922, his emphasis shifted from architecture to drawing and printmaking upon the encouragement of his teacher Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita.
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| Rind 1955 |
In 1924 Escher married Jetta Umiker, and the couple settled in Rome to raise a family. They resided in Italy until 1935, when
Growing political turmoil forced them to move first to Switzerland, then to Belgium. In 1941, with World War II under way and German troops occupying Brussels, Escher returned to Holland and settled in Baarn, where he lived and worked until shortly before his death.
The main subjects of Escher's early art are Rome and the Italian countryside. While living in Italy from 1922 to 1935, he spent the spring and summer months traveling throughout the country to make drawings. Later, in his studio in Rome, Escher developed these into prints. Whether depicting the winding roads of the Italian countryside, the dense architecture of small hillside towns, or details of massive buildings in Rome, Escher often created enigmatic spatial effects by combining various—often conflicting—vantage points, for instance, looking up and down at the same time. He frequently made such effects more dramatic through his treatment of light, using vivid contrasts of black and white.
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| Three Worlds 1955 |
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| Convex and Concave 1955 Dimensions: 27.5cm x 33.5cm It depicts an ornate architectural structure with many stairs, pillars and other shapes. The relative aspects of the objects in the image are distorted in such a way that many of the structure's features can be seen as both convex shapes and concave impressions. This is a very good example of Escher's mastery in creating illusion of "Impossible Architectures". The windows, roads, stairs and other shapes can be perceived as opening out in seemingly impossible ways and positions. Even the image on the flag is of reversible cubes. One can view these features as concave by viewing the image upside-down.
All additional elements and decoration on the left are consistent with a viewpoint from above, while those on the right with a viewpoint from below: hiding half the image makes it very easy to switch between convex and concave.
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Since 1964 the National Gallery of Art has formed the preeminent collection of Escher's art outside Holland through the generosity of many donors, including Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt and Lessing J. Rosenwald, both of whom knew Escher. The Gallery's collection includes more than 400 works by Escher: drawings, illustrated books, technical materials, and impressions of 330 of the artist's 450 prints.
The Mathematical Art of M. C.Escher
