This website uses cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies on this website to analyze visits and to show you relevant messages on social media. By clicking 'Accept all' you give permission for their placement and for the processing of personal data obtained in this way, as stated in our privacy & cookie statement.

Our privacy & cookie statement:

Tournai Cathedral
5 December 2017

Tournai Cathedral

Maurits, Jetta and their two sons spent July and August of 1934 in the artists’ village of Saint-Idesbald. The village is home to several museums, including that of the world-famous surrealist painter Paul Delvaux. Escher had rented a house there, together with his brother Eddy and sister-in-law Irma. During that holiday, Escher and Jetta visited Ghent, Bruges and Tournai. That same holiday Escher created a woodcut of the cathedrals of Ghent and Tournai.

This holiday proved to be a precursor to a longer stay in Belgium. After two years in Switzerland the family would move to Uccle (Brussels) in the summer of 1937.

M.C. Escher, Tournai Cathedral, woodcut, August 1934

M.C. Escher, Tournai Cathedral, woodcut, August 1934

The Tournai cathedral dominates the skyline of the city in his woodcut. The distinctive five Roman towers loom above the surrounding buildings. The work proved to be of historic significance: in it the city, which was founded by the Romans, is still untouched. In May 1940 German bombardments would destroy many of the old buildings.

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Tournai Cathedral (detail)

Map is loading...

Erik Kersten

Erik Kersten

Editor

Share:

More Escher today

Double Planetoid

Double Planetoid

Between 1948 and 1954 Escher created a series of planetoids and stars. These celestial bodies all appear to be set in the same science fiction world, a world that at first glance seems alien to the earthly, austere artist. The series began with the wood engraving Stars, which features two chameleons interlocked in a system of regular octahedrons.
Grasshopper

Grasshopper

This week we had a slight change in terms of the works being exhibited. Some were returned to the archive and were replaced by a series of other works by Escher. One of these is Grasshopper, a wood engraving from March 1935. In very fine detail Escher shows a specimen of this winged insect with its powerful hind legs, compound eyes, antennae and folded wings.
Cubic Space Division

Cubic Space Division

Studying concepts like eternity and infinity in his work was definitely an obsession for Escher. He explored countless ways of suggesting boundlessness within the limited frame of his woodblock or his lithography stone. One of the ways he approached this was playing with depth and perspective. By varying the thickness of lines, sizes of shapes and foreground versus background, he achieved this sense of infinite space in a number of works.