M. C. ESCHER: Master of Graphic Arts. - Review - video recording review

Arts & Activities, Nov, 2000 by B.H.

M.C. ESCHER: Master of Graphic Arts. Video/23 min./ $89. Level: Middle School and Above. Lucerne Media, 37 Ground Pine Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950, (800) 341-2293.

This fine video about the inventive Dutch artist M. C. Escher's life work is absorbing and fascinating. Landscape sketches made during his early travels to Italy provided him with ample material for making prints, and we see his early drawings, lino and wood block prints. The video shows us numerous works by Escher, including scratch-board drawings and lithographs made for book illustrations.

Escher fans will surely use the "pause" control to examine the intricate interlocking images inspired by the Moorish tiles in the Alhambra--the famous "Day and Night," made in 1938, with its dark and light flocks of birds flying past each other above metamorphosing fields. Escher's 13-foot-long woodcut in which he used 29 separate blocks that continuously morph is shown, as well as his flawlessly produced architectural impossibilities with their paradoxical perspectives. A comprehensive look at an intriguing artist.

For information about this program, circle No. 393 on the Reader Service Card.