Transcript Tessellations

M.C. Escher
The Father of modern
Tessellations
Who is M.C. Escher?
• Escher was born in
Leeuwarden in Holland
on June 17th, 1898.
• He was the youngest of 4
brothers.
• He is usually referred to
by his initials which stand
for Maurits, Cornelis.
• His family called him
Mauk.
• This is one of his self
portraits.
How did he get started in Art?
• Here his art teacher noticed
he had a liking for pen and ink
drawings and taught him how
to make linocuts.
• He became good at it and
sent some to the best known
graphic artist at the time,
Roland Holtz, who was
impressed and suggested he
switch to wood.
• Escher began failing in
school, so Holtz suggested
that he become and architect
to motivate him to work
harder.
Head of child, 1916
A teacher made the difference
Self Portrait in Chair, 1920
• In 1918, Escher enrolled in
the School for Architecture
and Decorative Arts' in
Haarlem, Holland where he
studied until 1922.
• Escher showed one of his
favorite teachers,
Mesquita, one of his prints
and he loved it.
• Mesquita saw Escher’s
potential and got
permission for Escher to
change courses and put
him on the road to
becoming a famous
printmaker.
You may recognize some of his work
He created the pen and
ink drawing “8 Heads”
in 1922.
Although it is not a
tessellation, it is an
indicator of what was
about to come.
Escher loved to play with
you mind. For example,
when you flip the
drawing…
The heads can be seen from different views.
The block print “Lions” was his first
attempt at creating a tessellation.
• He printed his
tessellation in
gold and silver
ink on silk…
• And was rather
disappointed that
people weren’t
more impressed
with it.
What gave him the idea to make a
tessellation in the first place?
• The tilings in the Alhambra in
Spain were laid out by the
Moors in the 14th century.
• They are made of colored tiles
forming patterns, many truly
symmetrical.
• By our definition, they are not
tessellations but they did
inspire the young M.C Escher,
who copied them into his
notebooks and later converted
some into true tessellations.
• Escher noted that the tilings
never included animals or
plants. His tessellations hardly
ever left them out!
Escher's drawing of Alhambra tiling.
What are
Tessellations
The word 'tessera' in latin means a small
stone cube. They were used to make up
'tessellata' - the mosaic pictures forming
floors and tilings in Roman buildings.
Today, the term has become more specialized and
is used to refer to pictures or tiles, mostly in the
form of animals and other life forms, which cover
the surface of a plane in a symmetrical way without
overlapping or leaving gaps.
A tessellation is created when a shape is
repeated over and over again covering a plane
without any gaps or overlaps.
Another word for a tessellation is a tiling.
Escher quickly
became
obsessed with
the process and
discovered
mathematical
equations and
properties to help
create his
tessellations.
Escher discovered that ALL
parallelograms will tessellate.
Escher used four main mathematical functions
Translation
Glide-reflection
Rotation
Reflection
China Boy 1936
Squirrels 1936
Next, he started creating
tessellations within tessellations.
His obsession led him to begin
playing with his tessellations to see
how far he could stretch the mind.
Playing with the
mathematical
equations, he started to
stretch his
understanding of what a
tessellation could do.
During his life, he became
obsessed with filling the plane
with pictures that did not
overlap or leave spaces.
Aged 68, he stated, "Filling
the plane has become a real
mania to which I have
become addicted and from
which I sometimes find it hard
to tear myself away."
Escher has inspired artists to create
tessellations of their own. Look at some of
the tessellations that students have done.
Motorbikes by Pete Akroyde
Princes on Parade by Pat Lore
Gone Fishin' by Heather Herrick
Angel Fish ? by Gary Casper
Turtles by Bjørn Gustum
Creepy Crawlie by Sara Kelly (6th grade).
Now, try it on your own!
• Cut out your tessellation from the four inch
square.
• Tape it together so it won’t fall apart.
• Trace it in your sketchbook three times to
make sure that it will tessellate (rotate).
• Create three possible sketches that will fill
the shape completely.
• Remember that there shouldn’t be any
negative or empty spaces.