| Cover picture: M. C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948, lithograph |

Escher worked with prints throughout his career – the early form of prints before printers came along, with the two most common types of prints being lithograph and woodcuts. I actually took a class on printmaking last year, and while I don’t think I knew what I was doing at the time (haha!), I’m happy to have had taken it now ‘cos these prints are absolutely lovely. The exhibition starts off with Escher’s early works and his inspirations taken from Art Nouveau and nature.

All M. C. Escher, The Second Day of Creation (The Division of the Waters), 1925, woodcut

Self-portrait in Reflecting Sphere (Flor de Pascua), 1921, woodcut

Cloister of Monreale, Sicily, 1933, wood engraving

I love how the rays of sunlight were engraved line by line; the amount of detail is stunning.

Escher spent a lot of time in Italy from 1927 to 1935, traveling every spring from Rome to southern Italy. The prints below were produced from his sketches at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and from scenes of the landscapes of southern Italy.

Inside St. Peter’s, 1935, woodcut

Nocturnal Rome: Colonnade of St. Peter’s, 1934, woodcut

The Bridge (also known as Town in Southern Italy), 1930, lithograph

Castrovalva (Abruzzi), 1930, lithograph

Pentedattilo, Calabria, 1930, lithograph

Tropea, 1931, lithograph

Santa Severina, Calabria, 1931, lithograph

The next section of the exhibition is Tessellation, which displays Escher’s beginnings in tessellated works that would later develop into his well-known graphic works.

Regular Division of the Plane I, 1957, woodcut

Regular Division of the Plane IV, 1957, woodcut

Intarsia Door Cabinet, wooden handcraft

Smaller and smaller, 1956, wood engraving

Next up is the section Metamorphosis, which I simply thought was very cool! It continues from Escher’s work with tessellations. Shapes now metamorphose into different forms, hence the title.

Sky and Water I, 1938, woodcut

Day and Night, 1938, woodcut

Love this one – the two halves on the left and right are the exact opposites of each other.

Predestination, 1951, lithograph

Swans, 1956, wood engraving

Liberation, 1955, lithograph

Circle Limit IV, 1960, woodcut

I found this angel/devil pattern quite creepy in a cool way, LOL.

Rippled Surface, 1950, woodcut and linoleum

Puddle, 1952, woodcut

Three Worlds, 1955, lithograph

Still Life with Mirror, 1934, lithograph

Hand with Reflecting Sphere, 1935, lithograph

The exhibition guide mentions that Escher was fascinated by reflecting spheres wherein the viewer would always be positioned centre no matter how you held the sphere. A very interesting point which I had never considered!

Three Spheres II, 1946, lithograph

Reptiles, 1943, lithograph

Bond of Union, 1956, lithograph

Metamorphosis II, 1939-40, woodcut

A little video, taken by me, of this really long piece that could barely be captured in a photo – watch it to see the details!

Skipping ahead to the section Exploring the Infinity, there’s an installation of cranes overhead and a related Relativity Room with an infinite number of cranes.

This section is hands down my favourite as it features a considerable amount of Escher’s masterpieces that play tricks on your mind in the best way!

Other World (also known as Another World), 1947, woodcut

Convex and Concave, 1955, lithograph

Up and Down (as known as High and Low), 1947, lithograph

Relativity, 1953, lithograph

Belvedere, 1958, lithograph

Ascending and Descending, 1960, lithograph

Waterfall, 1961, lithograph

Print Gallery, 1956, lithograph

Print Gallery is a really interesting piece as Escher tried to repeat the entire image infinitely in the centre. He was unsuccessful, however, and so left the centre empty and placed his signature there instead. A team of mathematicians then came along fifty years later and resolved the image’s perspectival issue, as seen in Print Gallery Resolved.

I also found the difference between lithograph and digital print really interesting to see (the two prints are exhibited next to each other), one produced by handwork and the other with a computer.

H.W. Lenstra, Print Gallery Resolved, 2003, digital print

As for most things in Singapore, the exhibition price is quite hefty at S$14 for Singaporean adults and S$17 for foreigners. That’s the price if you only view this single exhibition, there are other prices if you decide to check out other exhibitions ongoing at ArtScience Museum as well.

Despite the price, I was very happy to have seen the exhibition. The sheer amount of artworks shown made it worth it for me! The exhibition is showing until 26th February 2017, you can check out more details at their website here.

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