Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch artist who is primarily known for his prints. The son of a civil engineer, Escher originally wanted to become an architect, and he studied at an architecture school in Haarlem, The Netherlands from 1919-1922. While there, he was encouraged by a teacher to take up drawing and printmaking.
His interest was in exploring the illusions of perspective and spatial structure, as well as pattern. He once said that he was interested in “the geometric laws contained by nature around us.” His early works were based on landscapes he saw when he traveled, but after 1936 he used invented images and the mathematical principles behind nature, as well as the patterns of shapes, though he had no mathematical background.
His works have been much duplicated and widely distributed. The lithograph “Hand with Reflecting Globe” done in 1935 is one of his most famous print works.
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