Self-Portrait 1929

M.C. Escher made this Self-Portrait with graphite on paper, back in 1929. It’s all about lines here, those tightly packed graphite lines that give the image form. Look at that control. You can almost feel the texture of his hair and beard, can't you? The soft gradations of light and shadow create a real depth. It's like Escher is trying to figure himself out, bit by bit, with each precisely placed line. Check out the background – it's just this field of tiny, parallel lines. It’s as if he's built up this whole world with nothing but these repetitive marks. Escher's known for his mind-bending spatial illusions, but this portrait shows his mastery of traditional techniques too. It makes me think of Dürer, with that same attention to detail. But, while Durer used this to portray wealth and power, Escher used it to capture the complexity of the human experience. It's a conversation across time, an evolution of ideas.