Wood Cuts, Lithographs, and Illusions
Of course, I’m writing about M.C. Escher and the absolutely stunning extensive exhibit at MFA Houston.
I think I spent three hours there—most viewers were more interested in the optical illusions and tesselations-the fish becoming birds and so forth.
A few interesting facts—-he was terrible at math and failed his math exams–probably much to the disappointment of his engineer father. He became interested in tesselations with the gift of a book from his half brother who was a professor of crystallography in Leiden. He made over 450 woodcuts and lithographs—and over 2000 drawings.
This was his cabinet for his tools.
the first galleries included wood-cut prints—on ‘wove’ paper—that is paper with a very smooth finish as opposed to ‘laid’ paper that contains ribs.
He was incredibly meticulous—he drew with chalk on black paper using a flashlight at times to see his drawing and then transferred the drawing to a wood block that night. His pen and ink or graphite drawings were incredibly detailed; and all of those wonderful prints were done in graphite first.
It was such an incredible display of his work. This woodcut of his future wife was my favorite.
Sylvia Weir Art 