ASCENDING AND DECENDING
View Similar Items
M.C. EscherASCENDING AND DECENDING1960
1960
About the Item
- Creator:M.C. Escher (1898 - 1972, Dutch)
- Creation Year:1960
- Dimensions:Height: 18.75 in (47.63 cm)Width: 15.5 in (39.37 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Slight remnants of mat burn in the wide (full?) margins.
- Gallery Location:Santa Monica, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU41131766933
M.C. Escher
Nothing is quite what it seems in the universe of Maurits Cornelis Escher (widely known as M.C. Escher). The Dutch artist, famed for his graphic prints featuring infinite staircases, twisted perspectives and self-replicating animals, was a master of illusion in more ways than one.
Escher's pictures aren’t simply puzzles designed to play tricks on the brain; they were born of a desire to stretch our powers of perception, to encourage us to cultivate a natural curiosity and playfulness about the world around us. According to New York gallerist Skot Foreman, the artist had a rare gift. “He combined the structure and analytics of the left brain with the artistic creativity of the right brain,” Foreman explains. “Somehow, he turned images into mind-bending universes that were able to stretch the boundaries of our imagination, urging us to rethink the realms of possibility within nature’s laws of order.”
But creating illusionistic illustrations was not Escher’s only talent. He was also a passionate diarist, recording his thoughts and frustrations in written form throughout his life. He often lamented that his pictures could never fully convey his cerebral imaginings. At the same time, he expressed impatience with those who couldn’t see beyond the surface appeal of his shape-shifting patterns. Escher was an artist who sought perfection and felt misunderstood by the mainstream art world.
“The most important thing about Escher is that he was always curious, always researching and exploring. Most people lose this quality as they get older, but Escher maintained a childlike enthusiasm for the world,” says Dutch filmmaker Robin Lutz, whose thoughtful feature-length film, M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity, marries documentary footage with animation and unfolds at an unhurried pace, allowing Escher’s witty and intelligent prose to gently guide us through his creative evolution.
Escher always carried a magnifying glass in his pocket to “enjoy the tiniest details” at his feet, be it a plant climbing a rock, a butterfly or a grasshopper. He had a real passion for travel and spent more than a decade in Rome with his wife, Jetta, and young family. It was there that he first played with multiple perspectives, sketching the city’s architecture at night to avoid the “excessive baroque frills” he deemed too distracting in the daylight. Another big development was sparked by a 1936 visit to the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain. Inspired by the Moorish tiles of the 14th-century landmark, Escher started to experiment with repeating patterns, or tessellations, creating his first woodcuts and lithographs of metamorphosing birds, lizards and fish interlocking and filling the entire surface of the paper in jigsaw fashion.
During and directly after World War II, Escher produced many of his most famous works, emotional reactions to a world plunged into chaos. This period marked the start of his fascination with impossible staircases, never-ending waterfalls and cyclical still lifes featuring figures and creatures seemingly caught in a loop, a paradox of entrapment and renewal.
Indeed, the concept of infinity was a major inspiration for him. It informs his fish-eye studies and curvilinear perspectives, which cram in so much dizzying detail it’s impossible to know where one thing ends and another begins. It’s no wonder, then, that Escher’s probing, mind-expanding prints have such enduring appeal.
Find original M.C. Escher art on 1stDibs.
- Columbus CircleBy Arnold RönnebeckLocated in Santa Monica, CAARNOLD RONNEBECK (1885 – 1947) COLUMBUS CIRCLE ca. 1929 Lithograph, edition probably 50. Signed and titled in pencil, 12 ½” x 8 ¼” In very good condit...Category
1920s American Modern More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
Price Upon Request - CHASSEURS TYROLIENS A L'AFFUT DU CHEVREUILBy Gustave DoréLocated in Santa Monica, CAGUSTAVE DORE (French 1832-1883) CHASSEURS TYROLIENS A L'AFFUT DU CHEVREUIL (Tyrolian Hunters at the end of the Hunt) c. 1856-7 (B...Category
1850s Romantic More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
$880 Sale Price20% Off - The Whitesmiths, Impresse des CarmelitesBy James Abbott McNeill WhistlerLocated in Santa Monica, CAJAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (1834 – 1903) THE WHITESMITHS, IMPRESSE DES CARMELITES 1894 (03) Way 53, LEVY 84 Transfer lithograph signed with butterfly in stone 8 ½ x 6 1//8". ...Category
1890s Impressionist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
$725 Sale Price51% Off - Rare Gold Rush Caricature - Crossing Panama to CaliforniaBy Currier & IvesLocated in Santa Monica, CARARE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH / NATHANIEL CURRIER THE WAY THEY CROSS THE ISTHMUS, 1849 (Conn. 6576, Gale 7105) Lithograph, EXTREMELY RARE Gold Rush caricature. One of a small series o...Category
1840s Folk Art More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
$2,750 Sale Price42% Off - John Paul Jones Commander of a Squadron - 13 Colonies United States...Located in Santa Monica, CAAMERICAN REVOLUTION - (Attributed to Richard Brookshaw) JOHN PAUL JONES Commander of a Squadron in the Service of THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, 1779 (Creswell LC1...Category
1770s Old Masters More Prints
MaterialsMezzotint
$4,250 Sale Price32% Off - OLD CHINATOWN - SAN FRANCISCOBy Childe HassamLocated in Santa Monica, CACHILDE HASSAM (1859 – 1935) OLD CHINATOWN - SAN FRANCISCO 1904 (Cortissoz 95 i/iii?) Etching, 5 ¼ “ x 5”. Signed and dated in the plate and with his cypher in pencil. An early state before additional work as in the example at Cornell University. Very Scarce print. On old ledger paper. Sheet 9 5/8” x 7”. Pre San Francisco earthquake. Based on a rare photograph by Arnold Genthe...Category
Early 1900s American Impressionist More Prints
MaterialsEtching
$2,500 Sale Price33% Off
- 'Zero' Hans Schleger Grow Your Own Food Surreal Original Vintage PosterBy Hans Schleger ZeroLocated in London, GBTo see our other original vintage World War Two public information posters, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this seller" - or send us a message if you cannot find the poster you want. 'Zero' Hans Schleger (1898-1976) Grow Your Own Food Lithographic poster c. 1940 Printed by Fosh & Kosh Limited for HMSO 76x51cm A copy of this poster is in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. Provenance: the estate of the artist. In this poster the public are encouraged to Dig For Victory...Category
1940s Surrealist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Orphée - Original Lithograph by Jeanne Esmein - 1967By Jeanne EsmeinLocated in Roma, ITOrphée is an original artwork realized by Jeanne Esmein in 1967. Serigraph on paper. Hand-signed and dated in pencil by the artist on the lower right. Titled and numbered in pencil...Category
1960s Surrealist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Untitled - Original Lithograph by Paul Wunderlich - 1970By Paul WunderlichLocated in Roma, ITUntitled 3 is an original artwork realized in 1970 by Paul Wunderlich. Hand signed lithograph. Edition of 30 prints (in Roman Numerals). Image dimensions: 60x45 cm. Very Good Conditi...Category
1970s Surrealist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Untitled - Original Lithograph by Henry Maurice - 1973By Henry MauriceLocated in Roma, ITUntitled is a wonderful colored lithograph on paper, realized in 1973 by the French artist, Henry Maurice, published by La Nuova Foglio, the publishing house of Macerata, as it is impressed on the sheet on the lower right corner. Hand-signed and numbered in pencil on lower right margin. Edition of 100 prints. This contemporary artwork representing a surreal futuristic landscape animated by monsters and fantastic characters emerging from a muddy bottom surrounded by post-industrial architectures is in excellent conditions. A contemporary original print for your fashionable private collection at an affordable price, to collect jealously! Maurice Henry...Category
1970s Surrealist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
$223 Sale Price30% Off - L'Arbre de l'Amour (The Tree of Love) - Original Lithograph by Mayo - 1980By Mayo (Antoine Malliarakis)Located in Roma, ITBeautiful hand signed lithograph by the Greek painter naturalized French citizen Antoine Malliarakis (Mayo, 1905-1990). Edition 68/100, signed and dated in pencil lower right. Very ...Category
1980s Surrealist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Extraterrestrial Fantasy - Original Lithograph by Henry Maurice - 1973By Henry MauriceLocated in Roma, ITExtraterrestrial Fantasy is a wonderful colored lithograph on paper, realized in 1973 by the French artist, Henry Maurice, published by La Nuova Foglio, the publishing house of Macerata. Hand-signed and numbered in pencil on lower right margin. Edition of 100 prints. This contemporary artwork representing three extraterrestrial guardians at the entrance of a futuristic world is in excellent conditions. Maurice Henry...Category
1970s Surrealist More Prints
MaterialsLithograph