45. Maurits Cornelis Escher 1898 - 1972
'Dag en Nacht' - Day And Night, 1938
Woodcut
39 x 66.6 cm
Signed in pencil; Inscribed in pencil Dag en Nacht
est. $20,000 - 30,000
Fetched $24,000
Relative Size: 'Dag en Nacht' - Day And Night, 1938
Relative size

Provenance:
Collection of the late A.M.E. van Dishoeck by descent

Van Dishoeck was a Dutch publisher and a friend and colleague of Escher. Together they published Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) - Ex Libris van A.M.E. van Dishoeck - 1943. On a visit to New Zealand van Dishoeck gifted this woodcut to his daughter Christina. It hung in her farm home for 55 years. Christina's daughter who lives in New Zealand, along with other family members, has decided the time has come to pass on the work to new hands and those that will appreciate it. The new owner will be able to make contact with the family for further details on its remarkable provenance.

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is one of the world's most famous, internationally recognised graphic artists. He is best known for his so-called impossible constructions, such as Ascending and Descending, Relativity and Transformation. One of his most iconic and collectable images is Dag en Nacht - Day And Night, 1938.

During his lifetime Escher made 448 mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints and over 2,000 original drawings and sketches. Escher also illustrated books, designed tapestries, postage stamps and murals. Born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands he was the fourth and youngest son of a civil engineer. The family moved to Arnhem and after failing his high school exams Escher was enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. In his first week of attendance the young Escher informed his father that he would rather study graphic art than architecture. On viewing his drawings and linoleum cuts resident graphic tutor, Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita supported and encouraged Escher in this decision.

Following his graduation from the School of Decorative Arts Escher travelled extensively throughout Italy. It was here that he met Jetta Umiker whom he married in 1924. The young couple settled in Rome, remaining there until 1935. The years spent studying, travelling and working in Italy yielded a wealth of inspiration and many of the sketches and studies made at this time supplied material for later woodcuts, lithographs and wood engravings.

The background in the lithograph Waterfall stems from Escher's Italian period, as do the trees reflected in the woodcut entitled Puddle. These same trees appear in his 1932 woodcut, Pineta of Calvi. Escher's lifelong fascination with the regular Division of the Plane was initially ignited during his first visit in 1922 to the Alhambra, a fourteen century Moorish castle in Granada, Spain. Later, during the years spent in Switzerland and throughout the Second World War, Escher completed 62 of his total 137 Regular Division Drawings.

Working in a many mediums throughout his life, Escher possessed a mind of limitless creative capacity, juggling reality and illusion. He viewed the world and created intriguing works of art from his own very unique perspective.

Institutional collections of original works by M C Escher are the Escher Museum in The Hague, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Israel Museum, Jerusalem and Huis ten Bosch in Nagasaki, Japan.

An international retrospective exhibition Escher X Nendo | Between Two Worlds, is currently on show at NGV International, Melbourne, Australia

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