St. Bavo's, Ghent (July 1934) 1934

M.C. Escher made this wood engraving of St. Bavo’s in Ghent in July 1934, and you can see how he’s just loving the process of mark-making, the kind of hatching and cross-hatching that you have to do to get this kind of light and shadow. What I find striking about this piece is the way Escher revels in the materiality of the medium. The stark contrast between the black ink and the white paper creates a world of texture. Look at how the lines mimic the stone work, the sky almost feels like a geological formation. It’s like he’s carving not just an image, but a whole atmosphere. And notice the lower right corner; those tiny marks that give depth to the street, they remind you of the physical act of pressing the block onto the paper. Escher’s work is often about space and perception, and in his later work he explored abstract and impossible forms, so to see him here grappling with the real, tangible world makes this all the more fascinating. It feels like he’s building the cathedral up from scratch, one careful line at a time.