M.C. Escher Prints For Sale
EXPLORE ESCHER’S ARTISTRY
The Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898 – 1972) is one of the most famous printmakers of the twentieth century, and his prints have become some of the most valued and recognizable images in the world today.
During his lifetime Escher created 450 different lithographs, woodblock prints, and mezzotints. He considered himself “a printmaker, heart and soul,” using drawings and watercolors solely as preparation for his final prints. He worked with geometric figures, perspective, and multiple realities that combine beauty, art, math, and the impossible to expand the very boundaries of our perception.
His most famous graphic works include Reptiles, Drawing Hands, Ringsnakes, Relativity, Puddle, Waterfall, Encounter, and Metamorphosis. In addition to these major prints, which sell for the price of an automobile, Escher also created dozens of smaller woodcuts that are surprisingly affordable for many collectors.
ESCHER PRINTS FOR SALE
During the past fifty years I have sold hundreds of original Escher prints through my gallery, Artists’ Market. Escher’s small graphics include woodcuts that were created for book illustrations, museum and gallery exhibitions, private commissions and independent graphics. His major prints are becoming increasing hard to find in good condition and are sought-after by museums and serious collectors around the globe.
Two examples are below, and you can click below to see our complete collection.
Day and Night (B.303) 1938 Woodcut in Black and Grey
28 3/4” x 39” framed 15 3/8” x 26 5/8”
This is Escher’s most complete small print where landscape combines with interlocking forms. The sea and the sky connect on many levels, and the perfect figures interact with their surroundings.
Often considered Escher’s greatest woodcut, here we see two similar Dutch townscapes joined by curious fields that magically transform into flocks of birds soaring into dissimilar skies. Day and night join together as do the sky and the earth, living birds and plowed fields. A closer reveals that subtle changes occur as the town is illuminated at night and birds raise or lower their tails depending on which way they travel. These transformations are magical and yet seem utterly natural. Just and darkness and light are inseparable, so too are the birds above and the fields below. Escher described ‘Day and Night’ as his ‘so-called masterpiece,’ and this was always the print that was most requested and acclaimed when Escher exhibited his prints. ‘Day and Night” stands as the quintessential statement of Escher’s philosophy and craft, and today this woodcut is considered one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century printmaking.
Price on Request
Flying Unicorns
(B.371) 1950 wood engraving (4½“ X 3”)
Escher’s friends and publishers, L. & K. Asselbergs, owners of The Unicorn Press, commissioned this marvelous print from the artist for their personal collection and to present to their friends and colleagues in commemoration of the 1951 New Year. Each flying unicorn exhibits a different degree of shading, creating six different levels of intensity. Breaking away from traditional symmetry, the darkest unicorn kneels in repose and thus fits seamlessly with his companions. Escher sent an example of this print to his friend Tromp Meesters in 1968 with this note: “Unicorns…have the reputation of bringing happiness. That’s why I offer them to you, a fraction of an infinitely large number to celebrate the coming of the new year.”
The Price is $3,450
FRAMED PRINT
PRINT DETAIL
PRINT DETAIL
“M.C. Escher Amazing Images contains over 300 Pages of Escher images & essays gathered during my 50 years of collecting, buying and selling Escher
graphics. Virtually all the images and text have been created by me and not seen elsewhere. The book is self-published in a limited edition and only available through Artists’ Market. The few remaining copies are $150 including shipping within the USA”.
About Jeffrey Price
Jeffrey explains his own fascination with Escher’s art: “There is always more to Escher’s pictures than first meets the eye. His is an artist’s universe, one where our rational ideas may be suspended and yet logic prevails. In Escher’s world we can walk upstairs and downstairs at the same time, and fish can turn into birds on our walls. Escher’s vision enables us to see the invisible patterns of nature and catch a glimpse of wonders just beyond our grasp.”
