Announcement card 1926

From 2 to 16 May 1926 Escher exhibited 22 woodcuts and around 40 drawings at the Palazetto Venezia in Rome. For the exhibition, he created this announcement card.

The exhibition was partly due to the efforts of Dr. G.J. Hoogewerff, director of the Netherlands Historical Institute in Rome. Escher had befriended him and they could talk for hours about art. Together they visited the Dutch envoy in Rome and the envoy to the Pope, to get a recommendation for an exhibition. Their visits were successful. The exhibition attracted a lot of attention and largely positive reviews appeared in Italy and the Netherlands.

Escher’s series on Creation, and in particular the print The Second Day of the Creation (The Division of the Waters), was highly praised. Escher would go on to sell many prints of it.* In 1931, Escher would create his Emblemata series, in collaboration with Hoogewerff.

Source

[*] M.C. Escher, His Life and Complete Graphic Work, edited by J.L. Locher, Abradale Press, 1982, page 31