The artists Escher and Haas-Triverio in Italy (1922-1935)
30 June 2024
The Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) is world-famous. But who knows Giuseppe Haas-Triverio (1889-1963)? The two artists were close friends between 1922 and 1935 and shared a passion for Italy.
Giuseppe Haas-Triverio and M. C. Escher on a hike from Scanno to Villetta Barrea, Abruzzen, 21. 5. 1929. Photo: M. C. Escher
Josef Haas was born in Sachseln (Canton Obwalden) in 1889. As an autodidact, he travelled to Rome at a young age, where he developed his talents, initially with oil paintings and later increasingly with woodcuts.
In 1919, he married the Italian Secondina Triverio, and from then on, Josef called himself Giuseppe Haas-Triverio. He became increasingly recognised and opened a studio in Rome, where he taught (aspiring) artists from Switzerland and Italy.
Born in Arnhem, Escher studied graphic techniques under Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita (1866-1944) in Haarlem. He then lived in France and Spain before settling in Rome in 1922. There he married the Swiss Giulia (“Jetta”) Umiker (1897-1969) in 1924.
Escher and Haas lived and worked within walking distance of each other in Rome, and their friendship developed. They travelled through Italy together on several working trips until 1935.
Haas kept a diary, and Escher took photographs and recorded the journeys in his agendas. Sometimes, they travelled alone or were accompanied by other artists. In any case, both were inspired by Italy, its people, art, and nature.
Both diaries and Escher’s pictures have been preserved. Together with the artworks by the two artists, they form the starting point for the exhibition “Gemeinsam Unterwegs. Giuseppe Haas-Triverio & M.C. Escher” (Travelling together: Giuseppe Haas-Triverio & M.C. Escher) at the Museum Bruder Klaus in Sachseln.
Giuseppe Haas-Triverio, Stilo, 1931, woodcut, 60 x 70 cm / 36 x 47 cm, Stiftung Giuseppe Haas-Triverio, Inv. HS 29.
Maurits C. Escher, Cattolica von Stilo, Kalabrien, November 1930, Lithography, 22,6 x 29,7 cm (Escher 1986, Kat. 139), © The M. C. Escher Company, Baarn, The Netherlands
The exhibition mainly shows woodcuts by the two artists and their differences and similarities. The latter is apparent, as the artists often pictured the same objects.
Haas wrote in his diary: “Mit dem holländischen Künstlerkollegen Maurits Cornelius Escher, der zehn Jahre jünger was als ich und auch auf dem Monte Verde wohnte, unternahm ich bis 1935 jedes Frühjahr Reisen nach Korsika, Malta, Sizilien, Kalabrien und in die Abruzzen” (With the Dutch artist colleague Maurits Cornelius Escher, who was ten years younger than me and also lived on Monte Verde, I travelled to Corsica, Malta, Sicily, Calabria and Abruzzo every spring until 1935).
Due to the health of one of his sons, Escher moved with his family to Steckborn (canton of Thurgau) in 1935 and later to Château-d’Oex (canton of Vaud).
Impression of the exhibition. Photo: Christian Hartmann
After a stay in Belgium and after the German occupation, he returned to the Netherlands in 1941 and lived in Baarn.
The beginning of the Second World War also meant a return to Sachseln for Haas. He devoted himself to local themes. Unlike Escher, he fell into oblivion.
The catalogue by Beat Stutzer, Gemeinsam Unterwegs. Giuseppe Haas-Triverio & M.C. Escher (Sachseln, 2024) is a unique source of the two artists’ friendship and life in Italy between 1922 and 1935.
Impressions of the exhibition
