Huis van het boek presents 'The unknown Escher'
Has been | 01 October 2023 - 07 January 2024
From October 1, 2023 to February 4, 2024, House of the Book will show an unknown side to world-famous artist M.C. Escher. In the Escher year 2023, in which we commemorate his 125th birthday, the museum will show an overview of commissioned work by Escher in a small exhibition. Some of this work, including original drawings, has never been seen before by the general public. It includes, often strikingly colourful, book illustrations, New Year's greetings, invitations, program booklets, bookplates, stamps and banknotes, from private collections, House of the Book and other public institutions. Thanks to a financial contribution of the Municipality of The Hague, the public can now become acquainted with this unknown work.
Crowd favorite 'regelmatige vlakverdeling'
One of the masterpieces in the House of the Book collection is the crowd favorite Regelmatige vlakverdeling (i.e. a regular division of a plane), the publication Escher made in 1958 for Stichting De Roos. In addition to drawings and correspondence, the museum owns the complete set of six woodblocks carved by Escher. This iconic book and its original woodblocks are central to the exhibition.
ESCHER IN THE HOUSE OF THE BOOK COLLECTION
Over the years, the museum has acquired important archive material on Maurits Escher from various sources. The woodblocks, clichés and correspondence about Regelmatige vlakverdeling come from the archive of the publisher, the bibliophile Stichting De Roos. This was supplemented with further correspondence, drawings and sketches from the archive of the designer of the book, Aldert Witte. In addition, House of the Book manages the entire collection and reference library of Eugène Strens. This collector and graphic connoisseur commissioned M.C. Escher to make four New Year’s greeting cards. In addition to correspondence and other archive material, the exhibition will show the original drawings that Escher made for this purpose. In addition to original work, Strens also collected a lot of secondary material and books about Escher. House of the Book manages this entire collection and library and is therefore one of the institutions in The Hague with work by Escher in its core collection.
