Maurits Cornelis Escher, the youngest of five children, was born on the 17th June 1898 in Leeuwarden in the Dutch province of Friesland. He was raised in Arnhem where he also went to primary and secondary school. He was not bright at school but he could draw well. This, together with the fact that his father wanted a good education for his son, led him to choose the Academy for Architecture. Here, after a couple of months he was told, however, that he wasn’t capable of being an architect, as his designs had more to do with art than with architecture. He left the school and continued, at the age of 21, with an education on the Academy of Fine Arts in Haarlem.
After 2 years of education people let him know that he wasn’t fit to be an artist or designer because he wasn’t creative enough and he had too few spontaneous ideas. Therefore in 1922 he ended his education and started to design creations for himself. He found his inspiration in the numerous countries he visited, during his journeys on cargo ships.
In Italy he met his wife to be, Jetta, whom he married in 1924. His wife gave him three sons. In Italy the political situation deteriorated to such an extent that it wasn’t safe for them to stay there. That’s when the family settled in Holland in 1941, after having roamed about in Switzerland and Belgium for several years.
Escher started with small designs, especially for companies, but later he made designs for sale. In 1950 the first edition of all his designs in book form was published. This was such a success that it was immediately published in five different languages. The last 32 years of his life he spent in Holland, creating many designs. He worked with many scholars and mathematicians. He died at the age of 74 in 1972.
Escher designed the DAVO logo in 1953 before his work became famous.
Our logo portrays four pigeons which fly to the four winds.
M.C. Escher also designed several stamps:
Dutch stamps see the N.V.P.H. nos: 278, 542 and 543
Netherlands Antilles see the N.V.P.H. nos: 209 and 210
Surinam stamps see the N.V.P.H. nos: 278 and 279
