By: Mercedies Moser
Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher was born on June 17, 1898, in the Dutch province of Friesland. His parents, George Arnold Escher and Sarah Gleichman Escher, had three sons of which Maurits was the youngest. The Escher family was living in Leeuwarden in 1898, where George served as Chief Engineer for a government bureau. The family lived in a grand house named "Princessehof," which would later become a museum and host exhibitions of M.C. Escher's works. Young M.C. Escher moved with his family to Arnhem. M.C Escher lived in Arnhem for a while, in order to improve his health. In 1907, in secondary school, his marks were poor except in drawing. His art teacher took an interest in his drawing talent, and taught him to make linocuts. He failed his final exam and thus never officially graduated. In 1913, M.C. Escher met his lifelong friend Bas Kist. Kist was also interested in printing techniques, and may have encouraged M.C. to make his first linoleum cut works. In 1917, the two friends visited the artist Gert Stegeman, who had a printing press in his studio. Some of M.C.'s work from this year was apparently printed at Stegeman's. Also, in 1917, the Escher family moved to Oosterbeek, Holland. During these past few years, M.C. Escher and his friends became very involved in literature, and M.C. began to write some of his own poems and essays. In 1918, Escher began private lessons and studies in architecture at the Higher Technology School in Delft. He managed to get a deferrement on military service in order to study, but poor health prevented him from keeping up with the curriculum. As a result of always being sick he could not continue school (he had never successfully graduated from high school!). During this ruff period in time, Escher did many drawings, and also began using woodcuts as a medium. It was also at this time that his work began to receive favorable reviews in the media. Still trying to pursue a career in architecture,