Naples Art Institute To Showcase Largest Private Traveling M.C. Escher Collection In The World
M.C. ESCHER: REALITY AND ILLUSION FEATURES 150 ICONIC WORKS BY DUTCH ARTIST
Naples, FL (November 10th, 2022) - Naples Art Institute is kicking off the season by opening a new, mind-bending exhibition. M.C. Escher: Reality and Illusion presents a rare and thrilling privilege of examining first-hand 150 masterworks of Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), one of the most brilliant artists of the 20th century.
Drawn from the largest private traveling Escher collection in the world, the exhibition includes early figure drawings, lesser-known book illustrations, detailed Italian landscapes, the “tessellations” for which he became famous, and several examples of his signature architectural fantasies in which stairways seem to go both up and down. The most iconic of these works, including a pair of hands drawing and fish morphing into birds, are familiar to most people.
“Following in the footsteps of our exhibition with selections from the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation, Reality and Illusion features work by another autodidact and outsider artist with a unique vantage point. Like Hieronymus Bosch and Rene Magritte, Escher was an enigmatic and pioneering artist who boldly explored the world of mind-bending, confounding, illusionary art work that defies logic but is rooted in mathematics,” said Frank Verpoorten, the Executive Director and Chief Curator of Naples Art Institute.
M.C. Escher used his work to challenge perspectives, deftly exploring the relationships between art and science, reality and illusion, chaos and order, and logic and absurdity.
“Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?” asked Escher. “Are you definitely convinced that you will be on a higher plane when you walk up a staircase?” Such musings led to “mind-bending” qualities in his spatial illusions and have lent his imagery an enduring place in pop culture iconography.
“As the lender of these M.C. Escher masterpieces, it gives me great joy to see them on display in Naples for the first time ever,” said Paul Firos, founder of the Herakleidon Museum in Athens, Greece. “I have long loved M.C. Escher for his attention to detail and mathematical principles. I look forward to sharing these Escher treasures at Naples Art Institute, and I hope guests are as fascinated as I am by the depth and beauty of the Escher experience.”
Reality and Illusion will be on exhibit at Naples Art Institute from Saturday, November 12th 2022 through Sunday, February 12th 2023. Admission to the exhibit is $15 for non-members, and $10 for members. Docent led tours of the exhibit will be available on the following dates for the remainder of 2022:
Friday, December 2nd at 1:00pm
Friday, December 9th at 1:00pm
Friday, December 16th at 1:00pm
Friday, December 23rd at 1:00pm
Friday, December 30th at 1:00pm
Naples Art Institute Gallery Hours
Monday – Saturday from 10:00am – 6:00pm
Thursday evenings – open until 9:00pm
Sunday 11:00am – 4:00pm
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