Hol en Bol 1955

M.C. ESCHER (1898-1972, Dutch)

Hol en Bol 1955

lithograph
28.0 x 33.5 cm (image); 62.0 x 65.0 cm (framed)
signed and numbered lower left: MC Escher No.16/56 IV
signed with artist's monogram, dated and inscribed within image upper left: MCE/ III - '55

accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Walker Fine Art, United States of America
edition: 16/56

Provenance:
Walker Fine Art, New York, 2006
Private collection, Queensland

Reference:
Bool, no.399

EXHIBITED IN SYDNEY

Estimate: $25000 - 35000

A distinguished printmaker, M.C. Escher is best known for his mind-bending visual puzzles that leave viewers scratching their heads. In his world, floors can turn into ceilings, exteriors morph into interiors, and staircases ascend without ever arriving anywhere.

During his early career, Escher experimented with Cubism and Art Nouveau, which he ultimately abandoned. His travels throughout Italy during the late 1920s formed the primary inspiration for his first significant body of work: evocative woodcuts and lithographs of hilltop towns and villages, often featuring medieval architecture. These compositions employed striking viewpoints, both aerial and ground level, and marked the beginning of his lifelong experimentation with perspective, which would become central to his later, more complex imagery.

The rise of fascism in the mid-1930s compelled Escher to leave Italy, leading to brief residencies in Switzerland and Belgium before he settled in the Netherlands. This change of setting is widely regarded as a catalyst for Escher’s transition from representational landscapes to the imaginative and mathematically inspired compositions — often termed ‘mindscapes’ — that define his most celebrated work.¹

Escher possessed an intuitive grasp of mathematical principles; a foundation that proved integral to the development of his artistic practice. The present work Hol en Bol provides an excellent example of not only Escher’s instinctive understanding but his engagement with mathematical literature. Here he draws upon concepts such as infinity, reflection, symmetry, tessellation, and perspective. The viewer is unsure if a roof is protruding outwards or inwards or if steps are moving up or down; yet the image works in perfect harmony. As the artist noted:

I try in my prints to testify that we live in a beautiful and orderly world, not in a chaos without norms, even though that is how it sometimes appears. My subjects are also often playful: I cannot refrain from demonstrating the nonsensicalness of some of what we take to be irrefutable certainties. It is, for example, a pleasure to deliberately mix together objects of two and three dimensions, surface and spatial relationships, and to make fun of gravity.²

Footnotes:

1. ‘M.C. Escher: A Guide to the “Mindscapes” of the Artist,’ Christie’s, London, accessed May 2025: https://www.christies.com/en/stories/m-c-escher-collecting-guide-0801512f6553478fa0404f6ae511d5bf 

2. ‘M.C. Escher Quotes’, M.C. Escher Foundation, The Netherlands, accessed May 2025: https://mcescher.com/ 

Clementine Retallack

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