Seated Female Nude I 1920

This is M.C. Escher’s “Seated Female Nude I”, and it’s a woodcut, so that’s wood, and ink, and pressure! It’s all about process: the cutting, inking, and printing. It’s a physical thing, like a dance. Escher is well known for his tessellations, his interlocking, geometric figures, and his impossible architectural constructions. In this work, we see him at an earlier stage of his development, working with the human figure. The contrast between black and white is stark. Escher’s carving tool moves with determination through the wood, creating a texture that’s almost architectural. Note the woman’s hands in the right-hand panel, how they appear to merge with the striations of the background. Escher’s interest in pattern and form is really apparent, it’s as if he is trying to find the geometry in the human form, much like Picasso’s treatment of the figure in cubism. It feels like this work is part of a conversation. And that’s what art is, isn’t it? A conversation that never ends!