In 1969, by chance, I saw an image of a print in one of the Bay Area newspapers and that print was “Day and Night” by M. C. Escher. I knew instantly that this was my “Holy Grail” and Escher was my Guru. I was a graduate art student with a printmaking emphasis at California State University, Chico. Later I met and got to know another graduate printmaker by the name of David Trufant. He and I went to the Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco to see an Escher exhibit. I had a chance to purchase an Escher print very reasonably, the very same print as in the paper, but I was going to Europe and needed all my money, so I did not.
David, his wife Ellen and I went to Europe in June 1970. When we landed at Skipol International Airport, in Amsterdam, I went to the phone booth, looked up M. C. Escher’s name in the phone book, and called Mr. Escher. I could hardly believe it was that easy, he was listed in the phone book, because at that time the whole world wanted a piece of his time. I said “Mr. Escher my name is Michael Halldorson, I am a graduate printmaking student from Chico, California and I must see you.”
His first words were “I just got rid of two American’s”. He said that I could have fifteen minutes, at three o’clock, on Friday afternoon. I was ecstatic. Then came Friday, I took the Euorail train from Amsterdam to Baarn (the town where Escher lived). I was in town hours early. Sat down in a quaint café with a cup of cappuccino and fantasized what it would be like meeting Escher. What would we have time to discuss in fifteen minutes? Could I possibly get all my questions in that amount of time? Would we just get started and then find it was time to go? A taxi had me at Escher’s home fifteen minutes early. At precisely three PM I knocked on his door.
I was greeted at the door by Escher’s wife, Jetta, who had a friend over for tea, or so I assumed. I then saw a slight, white-haired
| |
 |
| |
This is Escher showing me his "Snakes" print, the last of his storied career. |
man come into the room and he took me back to his studio. I was carrying my best print which was framed. The print was “Pollution I”. Escher looked at it and complimented me on it; although today, and even then, I thought he must have thought “how crude”. I had taken that print to Europe with the intent of presenting it to Escher as homage to him. How presumptuous of me to do so with no way of knowing if I could even get an audience with him.
We discussed printmaking and he asked if I would be interested in seeing his latest print and the wood blocks that he carved for it. You might be able to guess that my answer was an emphatic “yes”! The print was “Snakes” the last print he did. He showed me how he printed it and I was enthralled and amazed. When I mentioned that the print was perfect, he was quick to point to one line that did not meet up perfectly with its counterpart on the block. Each block was a third of a circle (120 degrees). They were printed by rotating the inked block 120 degrees to connect with the previously printed one. In the middle of the print was a pin hole which he used to rotate the blocks. There were three blocks, one for each color. That is nine separate printings. You would almost need a magnifying glass to see the “imperfection”. To Escher it was a glaring mistake.
|
