When I was younger, I used to wake up on Sunday mornings, scramble to the kitchen and anxiously await my mother to finish with the comics. No, it wasn’t because I loved Family Circus or couldn’t get enough of Garfield. What I really loved were the magic eye puzzles; the optical illusion drawings that would give you a headache if you stared at them too long or hard. I would turn and twist the newspaper in various ways, simply to try and determine what was what. Ah, those were the days.
Until now. This weekend the Akron Art Museum opens its newest exhibit, M.C. Escher: Impossible Realities. Featuring 130 works by the master printmaker Maurtis Cornelis Escher, these original pieces are essentially adult magic eye puzzles. Escher’s interest and ability to create images that require “mind-bending” have resulted in spectacular pieces of spatial illusions that are icons in pop culture today. Ceilings that can also be floors, staircases that lead to nowhere, hands drawing hands and more are all beautifully created on woodcuts, lithographs, mezzotints and sculptures and are on display in Akron.
The exhibit, which is on display until May 29, is the last of only two venues in the United States to host this once-in-a-lifetime exhibit on loan from the Herakleidon Museum in Athens, Greece. Impossible Realities showcases a wide variety of the pieces created throughout Escher’s career, from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Born in Holland, Escher originally studied architecture in university; however, he soon decided to change his course of study to graphic arts. After traveling southern Europe and living in Italy, his career began with landscape sketches of his travels. These travels and the patterns Escher experienced greatly impacted his career and sparked his interest in tessellations (repeating patterns that fill a plane). These patterns are evident in all his work and throughout his career Escher fascinated mathematicians with his abilities.
A wonderful aspect about the Impossible Realities exhibit is that it displays the progression and changes of Escher throughout his career, including Italian landscapes, book illustrations, rare ink drawings, tessellations, renderings of infinity and more. Also included in the exhibit are three-dimensional models of two of Escher’s “impossible buildings” Belvedere and Waterfall.
“You have seen the posters; now see the originals!” said Elizabeth Wilson, Director of Marketing Communication for the Akron Art Museum. “One of the most brilliant yet enigmatic artists of the 20th century, M.C. Escher delighted in creating visual puzzles that confound our perception of reality. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy one of the world’s largest Escher collections.”
The Akron Art Museum also is hosting some related programming in correlation with this exhibit. On Friday, February 11, get a sneak preview of the exhibit at 7pm before it opens to the public. Tickets are available at the door and cost $10 for non-members (FUZE! concert attendees and members receive free admission). Other programming includes a museum book club discussion on “Mr. Peanut,” a lecture by professor of psychology at Cornell University, James E. Cutting, a family drop in day and a showing of the film Achieving the Unachievable. For a full list of events, visit the Akron Art Museum’s website here.
This exhibit presents an opportunity to experience a unique dimension of art. And for some of us, relive our childhood fascination with illusionary drawings.
You should know:
Akron Art Museum is located at One South High Street in Akron
Gallery and store hours are Wednesday-Sunday 11am-5pm; Thursday 11am-9pm. Closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Admission is $7 for adults, children (12 and under) are free. Students and Seniors (65 and over) are $5.
For more information call 330.376.9185 or visit www.akronartmuseum.org
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