This week at the Woodson

Reality and Illusion

Iconic works by Dutch artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972), including a pair of hands drawing themselves and  sh morphing into birds, became well known – from museum exhibitions worldwide to 1970s college dorm rooms – and continue to mesmerize. Woodcuts, lithographs, mezzotints, and drawings delve deeper into both the literal and impossible worlds Escher created over a career spanning  five decades. Drawn from the collection of Herakleidon Museum, Athens, Greece, Reality and Illusion features early figure drawings, lesser-known book illustrations, detailed Italian landscapes, the tessellations for which Escher became famous, and examples of his signature architectural fantasies in which stairways seem to go both up and down.

Drawings by Robin Lauersdorf

Whimsical, yet meticulous, graphite pencil drawings by Wisconsin artist Robin Lauersdorf, long interested in Escher’s work, are featured in an exhibition organized by Woodson Art Museum curator of exhibitions Andy McGivern. Lauersdorf manipulates perspective so that his playful, imagined realities appear to emerge three dimensionally from each sheet of paper.

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