Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972) is possibly the world’s most well-known graphic artist, but he once vexed an interviewer by referring to himself as a mathematician! Escher’s artistic output was considerable, and his mesmerizing visual puzzles, tessellations, and impossible buildings are among the most beloved and popular works of art in the world. His fascination with mathematical theory motivated him to produce imagery that constantly challenged notions of reality and its underlying structures.
The Chrysler Museum will present more than 150 works by Escher from the collection of Paul and Melinda Firos of Athens, Greece in M.C. Escher: Infinite Variations. The exhibition will showcase works that span Escher’s career, including the iconic Day and Night, in which two flocks of birds in flight blend into Holland’s landscape, and Ascending and Descending, a 1960 print of an impossible building with a staircase that mirrors a möbius strip. This comprehensive exhibition will trace the imagery that made Escher one of the world’s most recognized artists and feature the full range of media in which he worked, including woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, and even a lithography stone.
