The largest private collection of M. C. Escher's work is currently on display at the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina through June 6, 2021.
This exhibit brings the viewer into an impossible world of images using reflections, infinity, symmetry and so much more. Certainly the most detailed artist I have observed!
Reptiles features lizards moving from animated, to paper in tessellations and back again. I remember finding this one quite humorous as a child and still do!
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| Reptiles, 1943 (lithograph) |
Waterfall is a fantastic illusion when you view how the water moves.
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| Waterfall, 1961 (lithograph) |
One of his most notable works is Drawing Hands. What a master of life like shading!
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| Drawing Hands, 1942 (lithograph) |
As we follow the paths in Relativity, our minds tell us this can not happen but our eyes tell us something different.
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| Relativity, 1953 (lithograph) |
Probably the most intriguing piece to me is Eye. Escher felt that when we look inside ourselves, we see our mortality. If you look closely, there is a skull reflecting in the pupil.
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| Eye, 1946 (mezzotint) |
There is not shortage of whimsy throughout Escher's work. Dream features a praying mantis who the artist says posed long enough for him to create a detailed drawing. It is left up to the viewer to interpret this as the artist's dream or if the bishop is dreaming of the mantis.
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| Dream (Mantis Religiosa), 1935 (Wood Engraving) |
Escher lived for quite some time in Italy which inspired some amazing landscape pieces.
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| Atrani, Coast of Amalfi, 1931 (woodcut) |
One of my many favorites was this scene where the table of books and the street are one. I would love to take a stroll in one of Escher's impossible works!
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| Still Life and Street, 1937 (woodcut) |
Day and Night is an incredible work with night on the right and day on the left. The night and day birds are formed by each other. The camera picked up some glass reflection on this one so it is a little difficult to see. Oops!
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| Day and Night, 1938 (woodcut) |
I hope you enjoyed this sampling of the exhibit. Escher was an incredible artist who created lithographs, mezzotints, woodcuts and wood engraving with such precision. Definitely a treat to see in person!
Have a marvelous day/evening (wherever you are on the clock)! ~Val
