MC ESCHER 
M.C. ESCHER CHAPTER 9 PROJECT
“I believe that producing pictures, as I do, is almost solely a question of wanting so very much to do it well” - M.C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He was the youngest son of a civil engineer. He failed his high school exams and was enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem and is now one of the world’s most famous graphic artists. He is known for his ‘impossible’ constructions like Ascending and Descending, Relativity, Transformation Prints: Metamorphosis I, II, III, Sky & Water or Reptiles. During his lifetime he made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings. After leaving school in 1922 Escher traveled through Italy and Spain. The Italian countryside was the most influential on his work. While in Italy, Escher met Jetta Umiker whom he then married 2 years later in 1924. The couple had three sons; Giorgio, Arthur and Jan. In 1935 Escher and his family left Italy due to political climate and the forcing of his nine year old son, Giorgio, having to wear a Ballila uniform. Following their leaving Italy they settled in Switzerland for 2 years. Escher became extremely unhappy with the living conditions since he had no inspiration there compared to Italy. They moved again this time to Uccle in Belgium. They moved once more in January 1941, due to World War II, to Baarn, Netherlands where they lived until 1970. Most of his work was from this time period. In 1962 Escher did not work on anything after undergoing surgery. Escher sketched landscapes during his early years. His first work was finished in 1922 and it consisted of 8 human heads divided in different planes. In 1924 he lost interest to the division of planes. His first work of art on an impossible reality was in 1973, Still life and Street. Even though he traveled frequently most of his work was created from thoughts or images in his mind. He worked mostly in the media of
“I believe that producing pictures, as I do, is almost solely a question of wanting so very much to do it well” - M.C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He was the youngest son of a civil engineer. He failed his high school exams and was enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem and is now one of the world’s most famous graphic artists. He is known for his ‘impossible’ constructions like Ascending and Descending, Relativity, Transformation Prints: Metamorphosis I, II, III, Sky & Water or Reptiles. During his lifetime he made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings. After leaving school in 1922 Escher traveled through Italy and Spain. The Italian countryside was the most influential on his work. While in Italy, Escher met Jetta Umiker whom he then married 2 years later in 1924. The couple had three sons; Giorgio, Arthur and Jan. In 1935 Escher and his family left Italy due to political climate and the forcing of his nine year old son, Giorgio, having to wear a Ballila uniform. Following their leaving Italy they settled in Switzerland for 2 years. Escher became extremely unhappy with the living conditions since he had no inspiration there compared to Italy. They moved again this time to Uccle in Belgium. They moved once more in January 1941, due to World War II, to Baarn, Netherlands where they lived until 1970. Most of his work was from this time period. In 1962 Escher did not work on anything after undergoing surgery. Escher sketched landscapes during his early years. His first work was finished in 1922 and it consisted of 8 human heads divided in different planes. In 1924 he lost interest to the division of planes. His first work of art on an impossible reality was in 1973, Still life and Street. Even though he traveled frequently most of his work was created from thoughts or images in his mind. He worked mostly in the media of