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Escher's Letter to Oey
Escher always considered himself a graphic artist, in his
words,“with heart and soul.” In 1950 a discussion between the
illustrator Oey Tjeng Sit and Escher took place in the form of
letters published in the Newsletter of the Dutch Circle of Graphic
Artists and Illustrators.
Escher's first letter expressed his wonder at the ancient images
of animals found in the Lascaux cave and how those early artists
had a will and capacity to produce pictorial images— a will at
least as strong, perhaps even stronger than ours. Escher argues
that the plastic arts, unlike most of what man makes, have not
experienced an evolution, but rather, each individual has to start
from scratch.
The next year, Escher wrote an article “White–Gray–Black”
that appeared in the journal De Grafische (The Graphic Arts) in
which he argues on the necessity of context and contrast in order
to define form and color. This essential principle guided all his
graphic work.
In this video, produced by Claude and Dominic Lamontagne, the
words of Escher's letter and a paragraph from his article come
alive in word and picture.
Dear Oey,
… In the environs of Les Eyzies, the village that is sometimes called "the capital of prehistory," I visited a large
number of caves. ... One of those caves, Lascaux, ... contains by far the most beautiful and best-preserved
paintings of the entire region. … They have made an overpowering, breathtaking impression on me.
You get such a strange feeling when you try to imagine what is meant by "70,000 years ago." You try to imagine
it, but can't. ...Yes, it is a strange phenomenon that human spirit, that unextinguished spark, that seed that
remained alive, the thread we hold in our hands that connects us, across the soundless and pitch-black night,
with this member of our species there in the cave of Lascaux, dimly illuminated by a small wick dipped in
animal grease and set in a hollow stone. Do you see him sitting there, our brother? What does he look like?
What kind of sounds come out of his mouth? Does he stammer a language? We don't know. … What do we
care how he looks; isn't he our very own brother? What does it mean when we call him "primitive"? Is he really
inferior to us? Can we do things "better" than he? Does it clearly appear that we are "farther along" than he
was? Have the Great Ones whom we honor, the mighty sculptors from any of the historical periods, depicted
life more sharply, with more intensity than he has?... It must have been tiring to bend over his work while
painting an animal five meters long clear across the vault of his cave. While painting such an animal under the
poor lighting conditions at his disposal, he perhaps could not see the head as he was working on the
hindquarters. But his will and his capacity to produce pictorial images were at the least just as strong as ours. ...
... It seems to me that ... each individual has to start from scratch each time, without ever taking anything of
really primary importance from a predecessor.
I am coming to that conclusion now that I have seen the prehistoric frescoes of Lascaux. The question is
whether this conclusion is correct. Why shouldn't I happily accept the contrary if it's shown to me based on
reasonable grounds?
Dear Oey, I have to go back to my little hotel, where I shall drink a glass of delightful local wine to your health,
and I send my kindest regards.
From Newsletter of the Dutch Circle of Graphic Artists and Illustrators, no. 5, December,
1950 [In M.C. Escher (1989) Escher on Escher. New York: Harry N. Abrams]
M.C. Escher
(Les Eyzies, August 1, 1950)
« Isn't he our very own brother? »
“… Isn’t it fascinating to realize that no
image, no form, nor even a shade of color,
“exists” on its own; that among everything
that’s visually observable we can refer only
to relationships and to contrasts? If one
quantity cannot be compared with another,
then no quantity exists. There is no “black”
on its own, or “white” either. They only
manifest themselves together and by
means of each other. …”
M.C. Escher
From De Grafische (The Graphic Arts), no. 13, September,
1951 [In M.C. Escher (1989) Escher on Escher. New York:
Harry N. Abrams]
« Letter to Oey » : a short film by C. Lamontagne & D. Lamontagne
( click on image to launch video )
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