M.C. Escher: Journey To Infinity, a documentary film on the world famous Dutch artist directed by Robin Lutz will be released virtually on February 5th, 2021 at the New Plaza Cinema in New York, at Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles, and in over 45 additional cities.
M.C. Escher: Journey To Infinity is the story of world famous Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), better known as M. C. Escher. Equal parts history, psychology, and psychedelia, Robin Lutz’s entertaining, eye-opening portrait gives us the man through his own words and images: diary musings, excerpts from lectures, correspondence and more are voiced by British actor Stephen Fry, while Escher’s woodcuts, lithographs, and other print works appear in both original and playfully altered form.
Two of Escher’s sons, George (92) and Jan (80), reminisce about their parents while musician Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash) talks about Escher’s rediscovery in the 1970s. The film looks at Escher’s legacy: one can see tributes to his work in movies, in fiction, on posters, on tattoos, and elsewhere throughout our culture; indeed, few fine artists of the 20th century can lay claim to such popular appeal.
Director’s Statement:
“I fear that there is only one person in the world who could make a really good movie about my prints: myself.” This line wrote Escher in 1969 to an American collector of his work. And that is exactly what Escher is doing in this movie: he is the director, not literally but symbolically.
Besides being a visionary graphic artist, M.C. Escher was a sharp observer who described what he saw and experienced in numerous diaries, letters, lectures and catalogues. Thus, an image is created of his personal life described in his own words, with all his fears, doubts, euphoric moments, political considerations, his amazements, his artistic development and of course his own opinion on his work.
Escher gave sharp commentary on the turbulent world around him but focused entirely on his art. After a long period of traditional work his big breakthrough became reality after WWII with his “Escher” prints. In these works he shows a world that seems logical at first view but seems to be impossible in reality. The film shows with 3D animations how Escher visualized a vague idea into a graphic work and how his thought process evolved.
After Rembrandt and Van Gogh, Escher is now one of the most famous Dutch artists known in the world. Everyone recognizes his work immediately. This film is a very personal statement by Escher himself 44 years after his death.