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Three Spheres I
Escher Today
16 September 2017

Three Spheres I

The liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945 was personally as well as artistically liberating for Maurits Escher. In the second half of that year, he produced Balcony, Doric Columns, Three Spheres I and a woodcut for the 'Tijdelijke Academie (Temporary Academy)' in Eindhoven. He was also working on the lithograph Magic Mirror, which would be completed in January 1946.

M.C. Escher, Drie bollen I, houtgravure, september 1945

M.C. Escher, Drie bollen I, houtgravure, september 1945

In Three Spheres I, from September that year, he demonstrated with great precision how to evoke a three-dimensional form on a flat surface. He writes about it *:

'At the top of this print the spatial nature of a globe is brought out as strongly as possible. Yet it is not a globe at all, merely the projection of one on a piece of paper which could be cut out as a disc. In the middle, just such a paper disc is illustrated, but folded in two halves, one part vertical and the other horizontal, with the top sphere resting on this latter. At the bottom another such disc is shown, but onfolded this time, and seen in perspective as a circular table top.'

M.C. Escher, study for Three Spheres I, pencil on paper, September 1945

M.C. Escher, study for Three Spheres I, pencil on paper, September 1945

Read more about this wood engraving in this story, which also features Doric Columns and Balcony.

Source

[*] The 2013 reissue by Taschen GMBH of M.C. Escher. The Graphic Work. Originally published by Royal publishing house J.J. Tijl NV, Zwolle 1959, page 15.

Erik Kersten

Erik Kersten

Editor

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