Transcript M.C. Escher - Waconia Senior High Arts

M.C. Escher
“I believe that producing pictures, as I do, is
almost solely a question of wanting so very
much to do it well?”
Early Life
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Maurits Cornelis Escher 1898-1972
Born in the Netherlands
Youngest of 5
Father was a civil engineer
Education
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Attended both elementary and secondary school but did
not do very well. His interest was in music and
carpentry.
Math was very difficult for him.
“At high school in Arnhem, I was extremely poor at arithmetic and
algebra because I had, and still have, great difficulty with the
abstractions of numbers and letters. When, later, in stereometry
(solid geometry), an appeal was made to my imagination, it went a
bit better, but in school I never excelled in that subject. But out path
through life can take strange turns.” M.C.Escher
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Developed interest in printing techniques
Failed his final exams and so he never officially
graduated
Attended Higher Technical
School in Delft
1920 he moved to Haarlem
and study architecture, an
attempt to follow his father’s
wishes, at the school for
Architecture and Decorative
arts.
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Met Samuel Jesserum de Mesquita, graphic arts
teacher.
Escher was convinced that the graphic design program
would better suit his skills. (wood cuts)
After school traveling took up a large part of Escher’s life
from this point on.
Traveled Italy extensively
sketching and drawing.
Atrani, Coast of
Amalfi 1931
Lithograph
The sixth day of creation 1926
woodcut
Street in Scanno, Abruzzi 1930 woodcut
Family
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Met his wife Jetta Umiker in 1923
3 kids, George, Arthur and Jan
Took his family all over Italy
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Letter to his son
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Reptiles 1943 Lithograph
Mathematics
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October 1937 Escher showed some of his new work to
his brother Berend, a professor of geology at Leiden
University.
Recognized a connection
between Escher’s wood cuts
and crystallography.
Berend sent his brother a
list of articles for him to read.
This was Escher’s first
contact with mathematics.
Smaller and Smaller 1956, wood engraving and wood
cut in black and brown printed from 4 blocks
Concentric Rinds, 1953 wood cut
Sky and Water II 1938 woodcut
Family life
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Escher made numerous woodcuts utilizing each of the
17 symmetry groups
His art formed an important part
of family life.
Escher worked in his study 8am4pm every day.
New concepts could take months
or even yrs to develop before the
work was discussed and explained
to the family. (son’s letter)
Work
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Around 1956 Escher’s interests changed again taking
regular division of the plane to the next level by
representing infinity o a fixed 2-dimensional plane.
Earlier in his career he had used the concept of a closed
loop to try to express infinity as demonstrated in
Horseman, 1946.
Tessellations
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Escher was introduced to hyperbolic
tessellations
This style of artwork required enormous
dedication because of the careful planning and
trial sketches required, coupled with the
necessary hand ad carving skill.
Achievement
1995 Coxeter published a paper which proved that
Escher had achieved mathematical perfection in one of
his etchings. Circle Limit III, 1956 was created using
only simple drawing instruments and Escher’s great
intuition, but Coxeter proved that
“… [Escher] got it absolutely
right to the millimeter,
absolutely to the millimeter…
Unfortunately he didn’t live
long enough to see my
mathematical vindication.”
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By 1958 Escher had achieved remarkable fame.
Gave lectures and corresponded wit people who were
eager to learn from him
Gave his first important exhibition of his works and was
featured on Time magazine.
Received numerous awards over his career.
Printed from 33 blocks on 6 combined sheets
Lets Make A Tessellation
Begin with a simple geometric
shape - the square
Change the shape of one side
Copy this line on the opposite side
Rotate the line and repeat it on the
remaining edges
Erase the original shape
Add lines to the inside of the
shapes to turn them into pictures.
Add color to enhance your picture.
By repeating your shape you create a
tessellated picture
Escher liked
what he called
“metamorphoses,”
where
shapes
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changed and
interacted with
each other.
Another example
of metamorphosis
Lets make a simple tessellating
shape
Begin with a simple geometric
shape - the square
Change the shape of one side
Repeat the line on the opposite side
Change the shape of the top
Repeat this line on the bottom
Erase the square
Turn shape looking for two hidden
animals, flowers, fish, insects, or birds.
Draw a line that separates the two
hidden shapes you have found.
Add a few line that bring out your
hidden shapes.
Separate the two shapes so you can
use them one at a time
Make four versions of each shape, each
version with more detail
The most
detailed shape
can be changed
quite a bit
Make four versions of each shape
with more detail
The most
detailed shape
can be changed
quite a bit
Color all of one
type of shape the
same basic color
scheme
Line up the simplest shape with the
most complex along the bottom
Line up the next most complex
with the next simplest
Add the next row in the same way
Completed Tessellation
Completed Tessellation
Completed Tessellation