The Chrysler Museum of Art is set to bring the mesmerizing work of the renowned M.C. Escher to Norfolk, Virginia. M.C. Escher: Infinite Variations, on view April 15–Aug. 28, spans the Dutch artist’s entire career with more than 150 works from the collection of Paul and Belinda Firos of Athens, Greece. Although Escher was the modern period’s most well-known graphic artist, he once puzzled an interviewer by referring to himself as a mathematician rather than an artist. Escher’s fascination .
Rock Walker. Courtesy of Walker Fine Arts.
Dutch printmaker M. C. Escher’s famed labyrinthine architectural visions (confusing staircase, anyone?) have become a pop-culture phenomenon that extend well beyond the confines of the art world. Nevertheless, and perhaps due to the artist’s favor among the college-dorm decorating set, Escher’s contributions have never been fully embraced by the art world proper.
For decades, Rock J. Walker, a leading collector and dealer of Escher prints, has been on a mission to revamp the artist’s legacy by bringing critical analysis to his work. Walker, who offers works by the artist through his gallery, Walker Fine Art, focuses not only on Escher’s most famous, optically challenging prints, but also his earlier works, including more straightforward architectural studies that emphasize his trajectory as an artist. Walker has also been an important voice in warning about the pitfalls of collecting Escher’s work (his market is notoriously f