Trees and Animals 1953

Curator: This black and white print from 1953, titled "Trees and Animals", is by M.C. Escher. Made with a woodcut technique, it presents a fascinating, almost symmetrical view of nature. Editor: It's striking how graphic it is. Stark black and white, bold lines—the design seems very intentional and deliberate. A kind of formal reduction of what trees and animals might look like. Curator: The choice of the woodcut medium certainly reinforces that effect. Think of the process itself – the artist painstakingly carving away at the block, each cut permanent. What do you think about his labor? Editor: Absolutely. Escher is making some critical decisions when determining which bits of wood stay and which bits need to go! By foregrounding the black ink with the cut away white background of the paper, the result almost creates this feel of negative space in the figures of birds and trees. Curator: The pattern it creates—the animals echoed, reflected even— gives the composition this dreamy quality, but that precision also anchors it. Escher's so often playing with perception, isn't he? Are there meanings behind the motifs used? Editor: There has to be... the symbolism with birds in flight? The squirrels with what appear to be nuts? These must relate to life, abundance, communication. Also look at how those lower birds bookend Escher's initials. A bold, if quiet, material declaration there in the center. Curator: His dedication is unquestionable... but what if Escher sought a personal kind of resonance here. To distill not just the forms of the animals and the trees, but maybe he also wished to give voice to his own wonder for these natural forms of life? Editor: That’s where process becomes substance! You're talking about this sense of an individual working method and their attempt at control over the print, from the actual matter, or piece of wood that can produce hundreds of images for dissemination. Curator: Precisely! What the image may be intended to do is to create multiples of individual encounters for each viewer to encounter again and again... Editor: What is more natural, and yet simultaneously so unnatural about that experience— Escher's way of pushing that point must lead us all to feel we are still seeking out true impressions, even to this day...