Favorite Artists...M.C. Escher

My second most favorite artist is M.C. Escher. He did graphic art so beautifully, I could only ever hope to emulate him. If you are thinking at any point, WHO? I assure you, you HAVE seen a piece of his artwork, sometime in your life. He did drawings, lithographs, wood carvings and much more. His use of positive and negative space, and what some call "impossible" space, is breath-taking. My favorite of his works, medium-wise, are his lithographs and his wood cuts. Many feel a lot of his work is inspired by mathematics, which makes me loving his work make that much more sense. I love math, mostly algebra, but math makes sense to me, clicks in my brain. And apparently, he found that it clicked also. Because he studied mathematics and wrote papers, and Escher is a favorite artist of mathematicians and scientists.

By the time he was 18, Escher was already creating art work. He had gone to school for architecture, but told his father almost immediately that he wanted to work in graphics. And a teacher at the time, excitedly encouraged this change in studies.

In fact, except for a period when he had surgery when he was around 63 or 64, he was continuously producing art. He was creating that much artwork. I mean, for a year to be noted, that no new images were created, that means something. Other artists, authors, etc. can go years between work and it is not even noticed, but M.C. was art free for one year as he recuperated and it was noticed. That was how strong his presence was in the art world.

During the month of March, 1972, Escher's condition deteriorated. His family gathered around him, taking turns sitting by his hospital bed. On March 27, 1972, he died, at the age of 73.