M.C. ESCHER FROM DRAFT TO MASTERPIECE

The exhibition “Maurits Cornelis Escher- From draft to masterpiece” was organized and curated by the founders of Herakleidon Museum, Pavlos and Anna-Belinda Firos, in collaboration with one of the largest collectors of archival material and works by M.C. Escher.

Due to the large number of works, the exhibition was divided into 4 sections, which focused on various aspects of the artist’s work:

·         First Unit ”The period of discovery” 10/10/08 – 11/01/09

·         Second Unit “Italian Period” 17/01/09 – 08/04/09

·         Third Unit “The Unknown Escher” 25/04/09 – 02/08/09

·         Fourth Unit “Color in Escher” 22/08/09 – 15/11/09

This is the most detailed, comprehensive and extensive presentation of the artist ever organized internationally, with the aim of giving to the art-lovers the feeling of visiting his workshop during the preparation of his masterpieces.

The exhibition opened with the section “The Period of Discovery” and covered the artist’s work from 1937 until his death in 1972. Here, the concept of “Discovery” has a double meaning: on the one hand, it refers to the personal discoveries that Escher made through many studies, and on the other hand in the discovery of himself and his work by the scientific community.

M.C. ESCHER

M.C. Escher was born on June 1898, in Leeuwarden, a city in Northern Holland. From an early age, he showed his special talent for drawing. He was already making his first linotypes, with the help of his art-teacher, from the time of secondary education. His parents urged him to study architecture, so he enrolled at the School of Architecture and Decorative Design in Haarlem. Escher quickly realized that his true love was drawing and the graphic arts, and from that moment on, he devoted himself to them although his work always echoed a deep knowledge of architecture. After finishing his studies, he moved to Italy and settled in Rome. He toured the country from 1923-1935. During this time, he focused on creating realistic landscapes and images of cities, works noted for their striking sense of volume structure in space. From 1937, onwards Escher’s works relied on his own inexhaustible imagination. He began creating the amazing magical illustrations for which he become so famous. He added to this quest not only his wonderful knowledge of geometry and other mathematical forms, but also his humor, imagination, and passion for the regular division of the plane and boundless space. Since the 1950’s he had gained supporters among scientists and his work to this day is a symbolic bridge between science and art. Escher died in the Netherlands on March 27, 1972, aged 73.