Smaller and Smaller
1956
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
woodcut in black and red-brown, printed from two blocks
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt Collection
Accession Number
1974.28.67
Art Historical Context
In 1956, Dutch artist M.C. Escher createdSmaller and Smaller*, mesmerizing woodcut printed in black and red-brown from two carved blocks. This print, now housed in the National Gallery of as part of the Cornelius Van. Roosevelt Collection, exemplifies's lifelong fascination with mathematical precision and paradoxes. By the mid-1950s, Escher had honed his reputation as a master printmaker, blending art with geometry in ways that captivated audiences worldwide. The woodcut medium allowed Escher to achieve extraordinary detail and contrast, with the dual blocks enabling subtle color layering tha...
About the Artist
M.C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) was a Dutch graphic artist renowned for his mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints featuring impossible constructions, tessellations, and explorations of infinity. Though he considered himself lacking in mathematical ability, Escher's work demonstrates profound intuitive understanding of geometry, symmetry, and spatial paradox. A transform...