M.C. Escher’s internationally known and fantastical prints are coming to Portland. Located at the nexus of art, mathematics, and science, his work playfully explores multidimensional realities, visual puzzles, and decorative patterning. The exhibition includes early figure drawings, lesser-known book illustrations, detailed Italian landscapes, transformations in which fish morph into birds, and the birds morph into horses, and his signature architectural fantasies in which stairways seem to go both up and down.
Escher famously challenged visual realities. “Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?” asked Escher. “Are you definitely convinced that you will be on a higher plane when you walk up a staircase?” Such questions fueled his work, perplexing and delighting viewers. He even challenged his identity as an artist; he once puzzled an interviewer by referring to himself as a mathematician instead.
“This is a marvelous opportunity for viewers to see the full scope of Escher’s work,” said Mary Weaver Chapin, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings. “While many people are familiar with his visual puzzles, this exhibition covers the length of his career as well as his working process and printing technique. I am delighted to share rare drawings and even the woodblocks he used to create these mesmerizing prints.”
M.C. Escher: Infinite Variations is drawn from an extensive private collection and augmented by work from the Portland Art Museum and a local collector. Visitors will see woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, and even the blocks he used to make them. Among the objects are some of his most iconic pieces, including 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 reality-defying staircase that always goes up yet ends where it began.
Traveling exhibition provided by PANART Connections. The Portland Art Museum’s presentation is curated by Mary Weaver Chapin, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings.
