The Magical World of M.C. Escher was recently on view at the Boca Raton Museum of Art and was visited by a large computer tech group, of which I was a part. It is always interesting in the stark differences in what the trained and untrained eye sees. The tech group really found Escher’s use of repetition and patterning, and its relationship to mathematics, highly creative and amazing. As is often the case with those that do not much time with art and its wide variegation, photographic realism continues to draw amazement. But then too, those who are not versed in the world of computers are amazed when something that seems impossible to us is easily remedied by a computer tech person. Okay, the art…
“The laws that were to fascinate Escher most until his death were those of the regular division of the plane.”
“The ideas that are basic to them often bear witness to my amazement and wonder at the laws of nature which operate in the world around us.”
Even though Escher did not have a mathematical a education his interpretation of mathematics was mostly visual and spontaneous. Escher’s art has a substantial mathematical element, and numerous worlds which he created are established around impossible items such as the Necker cube and the Penrose triangle. Several of Escher’s works utilized echoed tilings called tessellations. Escher’s artwork is particularly well-liked by mathematicians and men of science, who delight in his use of polyhedra and geometric deformations.
Escher is a fascinating subject for investigation because of how he is viewed in art history. He is considered a fascinating graphic artist and mathematician known for mind-bending drawings of impossible and amazing architecture. Escher is not held in as high esteem some of the other highly collected artists during his lifetime. Walker Fine Art’s Rock Walker is leading a push to build a museum to M.C. Escher. Even though the current economy doesn’t seem ripe for such a proposition, Mr. Walker is convinced it will happen.
M.C. ESCHER (Dutch, 1898-1972), Reptiles, 1943, Bool #327, lithograph, 13 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches. Courtesyt of The Walker Collection. ALL
M. C. ESCHER’S WORKS AND TEXT ©, THE M. C. ESCHER COMPANY, BAARN, THE
NETHERLANDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. M. C. ESCHER ® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK.
M.C. ESCHER (Dutch, 1898-1972), Convex and Concave, 1955, Bool #399, lithograph, 10 7/8 x 13 /14 inches. Courtesyt of The Walker Collection. ALL
M. C. ESCHER’S WORKS AND TEXT ©, THE M. C. ESCHER COMPANY, BAARN, THE
NETHERLANDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. M. C. ESCHER ® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK.
M.C. ESCHER (Dutch, 1898-1972), Hand with Reflecting Sphere, 1935, lithograph 12 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches.. Courtesyt of The Walker Collection. ALL
M. C. ESCHER’S WORKS AND TEXT ©, THE M. C. ESCHER COMPANY, BAARN, THE
NETHERLANDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. M. C. ESCHER ® IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK.
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