Chapter 17: The Art of M. C. Escher

Maurits C. Escher was a famous artist that incorporated many mathematical patterns in his works of art. No other living artist has been as successful in this type of art as him. Escher claimed that he got along better with scientists and mathematicians than artists, and he considered all his works mathematical “games”. The chapter continues to talk about his works of art and the patterns he uses. For instance, one of his pieces is called Day and Night, and in this piece the left side reflects the right side, but the sides are also negatives of each other. In another piece, Heaven and Hell, the angel and devil silhouettes fit perfectly together and then similar shapes continue this pattern towards the rim as the shapes get “infinitely” smaller. Another type of mathematical artwork the Escher does does not involve patterns. In this line of work, Escher plays with the laws of perspective to create “impossible figures”. In one of Escher’s pieces, named Belvedere, the pillars are attached at both the front and the back of the structure. There are also two young men climbing the ladder, but one appears to be inside the structure while the other appears to be on the outside. Many other pieces of Escher’s work were described in this chapter along with the mathematical components to them. Escher did not become world-famous until about the time of his death, but now his works of art can cost thousands of dollars. His art is displayed in many math, science, and art institutions around the world.

               

Heaven and Hell

Day and Night

The Colossal Book of Mathematics includes multiple different pieces of Escher’s work, but there are some types of his work that are not represented in my opinion. The World of M. C. Escher contains many of Escher’s works of art and ones that I found interesting were the pieces that degraded from animals to simple shapes. For example, one of Escher’s drawings found in The World of M. C. Escher starts out as birds at the top of the piece, but at the bottom theres is only triangles. I am pleased, however, that Gardner included the piece Heaven and Hell because this piece has two concepts that Escher repeatedly used in his pieces. One concept is what I call the “puzzle piece effect”. The angles and the devils fit perfectly together with each other and leave no gaps. The other concept is the how the shapes get “infinitely smaller” as they reach the edge of the piece. Escher uses these techniques in many of his works of art, so it is nice that Gardner included a piece with both of these concepts. 

Gardner mentions that scientists and mathematicians were the first to appreciate Escher’s works of art, but he never went into detail for why. Caroline Macgillavry explains in Fantasy and Symmetry: the Periodic Drawings of M. C. Escher that scientists and mathematicians were interested in Escher’s work because it was a great example for the principles of symmetry. In fact, Escher’s works became very popular and regular in crystallographic literature in the 1930s. I think this is a very interesting and important fact to understand the fascination with Escher’s work. Gardner does however explain that Escher uses multiple theories and aspects of symmetry, and that to explain these all it would take an entire book. This puts emphasis on the complexity of Escher’s art, which is also important to understand, so I am pleased that Gardner included this idea. 

In the book M. C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work, the story of Escher’s life is explained in more detail than what Gardner has in The Colossal Book of Mathematics. I think it would’ve been wise for Gardner to explain that Escher was not always going to be an artist. He went to college for a normal job, but became very sick and missed a lot of his lectures. Once he finally recovered from his infection, he decided there was no point in trying to catch up with his schooling, so he decided to create drawings instead. This is kind of the beginning of Escher’s career, so I believe Gardner should’ve included it in his book. Gardner does explain where Escher’s work is being held now, which is relevant to understand just how famous he has become. 

Overall, I think Gardner did an exceptional job of summarizing the works of M. C. Escher in the short chapter. His life and all his works are very complicated to understand, which is why there are so many books written about Escher. There are some details that I wish were included, but overall this chapter contained good content about M. C. Escher and his mathematical art.