Morano Calabria 1930

This is Escher’s ‘Morano Calabria’, a wood engraving. I'm really drawn to Escher’s graphic sensibility here. Look at the way he constructs a sense of depth with just black and white. It’s all about the process of carving, the repetitive mark-making giving texture and structure to the landscape. The horizontality of the mountains in the background is mirrored in the valley. But it’s the houses on the hillside that really grab me, they’re almost like geometric shapes, so precise and yet nestled together haphazardly. Notice the little lines that denote the rooftops and suggest the shadows. The texture is incredible; each carved line feels deliberate and impactful. Escher’s work is sometimes seen as a precursor to op art, but it has a depth and intricacy which is all his own. It reminds me a little of Piranesi, the architect and engraver, who also played with perspective in a similar way.