Art of M.C. Escher, Page 1

Mauritis Cornelis Escher

Born:             June 17,1898 in Leeuwarden, Holland

Parents:         George and Sara Escher

Personal:       Grew up in Arnhem.  Called "Mauk" by his friends and family.  Youngest of five sons.  Attended public school from 1912 to 1918 and was an average student.  Played the cello and loved music.  September of 1918, moved to Haarlem to attend School for Architecture and Decorative Arts, intending to become an architect.  Met a teacher who became his mentor, Samuel Jessurum de Mequita, who advised him to study graphic arts.  In April 1922, he set out for Florence, Italy and traveled and sketched.  Met Jetta Umiker in Ravello in 1923, they married in 1924 and settled in Rome.  They lived there 11 years and had two sons: George in 1926 and Arthur in 1928.  July 1935, left for Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland.  August of 1937, moved to Ukkel, a suburb of Brussels.  In May 1940, the Germans invaded Brussels, so Escher moved his family to Baarn, Holland in February 1941.  He lived there 30 years.  His last 2 years were spent in Laren and he died there March 27, 1972 (Schattschneider, D., 2004, M.C. Esher: Visions of Symmetry, pp. 2-15). 

Early Art:       Escher was taught woodcut techniques by de Mequita.  Escher seemed obsessed with repeating figures that would fill the plane of the blank page.  He made rules for himself about his designs: the shapes had to be "concrete, recognizable figures and adjacent shapes must have contrasting colors" (Schattschneider, D., 2004, p.7).