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M.C. Escher decided at an early age to become a printmaker rather than a painter or sculptor. He eventually produced 449 prints. He produced about five times as many woodcuts and wood engravings as lithographs.
A woodcut is a print of an image that the artist has carved into a wooden plank, known as a block. Suppose Escher traces the outline of his left hand on the wood; his thumb would then be on the right-hand side. He carves out the outline, applies ink to the block, then places a sheet of paper over it and presses the ink into the paper. Once this is done, he removes the paper from the block and now the miracle takes place: the thumb is on the left-hand side. The print is therefore a mirror image of the design on the wooden block. He even has to carve the letters of his name in mirror image, so that we can read them properly in the artwork! Anyone viewing an Escher print in a museum will have even greater admiration for his craftsmanship. After all, we do have the feeling that every print was created ‘just like that’. When we fully realise that such complex works as Relativity (1953) and Metamorphosis I (1937) were also created in mirror image, it’s quite mind-boggling. What does this have to do with the little spoon pictured above? Escher used it to print his woodcuts. He printed every print by hand, and to transfer the ink from the woodblock onto the paper, you need a tool. Escher used small wooden egg spoons.
This little egg spoon is on display in the museum. It was originally a special gift to a second cousin of M.C. Escher. Her mother was the daughter of Escher’s half-brother Beer (Berend). Years ago, she was occasionally allowed to visit Escher’s studio in Baarn. During one such visit, Escher gave her this spoon so that she could use it herself to make prints. If you look closely, you can see the printing ink on the flat underside of the spoon. Mrs Johanna Angelina Visser-van Bolhuis has kept this spoon ever since and donated it to the museum in 2014. Its provenance makes this little spoon very special. Not only did Escher use it to print engravings, but a family member also kept it for as long as 50 years before donating it to the museum. We are very grateful to her for that.
Incidentally, it is not the only surviving egg spoon belonging to Escher. The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa holds another spoon, which was donated to the Canadian museum by George, the son of M.C. Escher.
