Maurits Cornelis Escher (Leeuwarden, 17 June 1898 – Laren, 27 March 1972) was a Dutch printmaker and
graphic artist.
His name is inseparably linked to his woodcuts, lithographs, wood engravings and mezzotints, which feature
impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, tessellations of the plane and space, and motifs of interconnected
geometries that gradually transform into increasingly different forms.
Escher’s works are greatly admired by scientists, logicians, mathematicians and physicists, who are attracted
by his rational use of polyhedra, geometric distortions and original interpretations of scientific concepts, often
employed to achieve paradoxical effects. Escher arrived in Italy in 1922 and remained there until 1936.
He lived permanently in Rome, but every spring he undertook journeys to explore the Italian countryside. During
these travels he also visited Southern Italy, then little known and seldom frequented by foreign travellers.
In 1930 he embarked on his journey through Calabria in the company of the Swiss artists Giuseppe Haas Triverio
and Robert Schiess and the historian Jean Rousset. Escher arrived in Pizzo Calabro aboard a ship departing
from Naples and wandered through Calabria for almost a month.
From Pizzo he continued southward by train and, following the Tyrrhenian coast, visited the towns of Tropea,
Scilla and Melito Porto Salvo.
From the latter locality, Escher and his companions were forced to continue their journey on muleback in order
to reach several villages at the foot of Aspromonte, including Pentidattilo.
The journey through Calabria then continued northward and the four friends visited Santa Severina, Rossano,
Morano and Rocca Imperiale. During these explorations he discovered a land that was both rugged and fascinating.
He filled his sheets with drawings, sketches and notes of the landscapes he encountered, which upon his return
he gathered into thirteen prints in a collection entitled “Calabrie, 6 Woodcuts and 7 Lithographs,” leaving
behind some beautiful engravings of the places he visited.
Particularly noteworthy were the two works created in Scilla in May 1930, depicting views of the town’s two
coastal sides, corresponding to the districts of Marina Grande and Chianalea.
In Scilla, Escher produced a series of preparatory pencil sketches that anticipated the beautiful lithograph
showing Marina Grande from above.
Through elegant and refined chiaroscuro, he captured the light of the Strait and masterfully spread it across
the houses and the castle standing out between sea and sky. Small boats bear witness to Scilla’s age-old vocation
for fishing and maritime trade.
In the second work, a woodcut engraving, the village is portrayed through a strong contrast of sharp, intense
light and deep black shadows.
The view is taken from below, from the district of Chianalea, with the sea in the foreground, where pointed and
irregular rocks emerge from the water, giving the scene an unreal and dramatically creative effect.
These works represent an extraordinary example of Escher’s ability to transform the landscape into a rigorous,
almost architectural construction, without sacrificing the evocative power of nature.
The village perched upon the Castle rock, with its houses piled one upon another, is rendered with meticulous
attention to detail, while the composition plays upon sharp contrasts of light and shadow that enhance the
sense of depth.
The Mediterranean lands, so profoundly different from his native homeland, exerted a deep fascination upon
him: he was struck by the sun and light of the South, the geometric architecture of the landscapes, the vertical
constructions on rocky outcrops, the cliffs overlooking the sea, and the layering of ancient cultures.
During his stay in Italy from 1922 to 1936, Escher developed many of the ideas and inspirations that would
characterize his mature work and his studies of form, making him unique in his synthesis of science and art.
Giuseppe Ribuffo
