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National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION
image of Wild West
M.C. Escher (artist)
Dutch, 1898 - 1972
Wild West, 1920
woodcut
image: 35.7 x 17.5 cm (14 1/16 x 6 7/8 in.) sheet: 37.6 x 20.8 cm (14 13/16 x 8 3/16 in.)
Seymour and Iris Schwartz Collection
All M.C. Escher works © Cordon Art-Baarn-the Netherlands. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1978.90.25
From the Tour: M.C. Escher — Life and Work
Object 2 of 24

Escher's early interest in the sharp contrast between black and white is apparent in this woodcut. It also presents ideas that he fully developed later in his career, such as the interlocking and patternlike forms seen in the audience that is depicted here.

The woodcut is a relief process. First a drawing is made on a block of wood that has been cut along the grain. A knife and chisel are then used to remove the wood on either side of the drawn lines, leaving the print surface raised above the areas to remain blank. In his early period Escher also frequently used linoleum cuts as a print medium, in which the same technique is employed as in a woodcut.

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