ART & MATHS: M.C.

Escher
Although I am absolute innocent of training or knowledge in the exact sciences, I often seem to have more in common with mathematicians than with my fellow artists M.C. Escher, 1967

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Escher's Artwork

During his lifetime made 448 lithographies, woodcuts and wood engravings 2000 drawings and sketches. He illustrated books, designed tapestries, postage stamps and murals. He published the illustrated book The Regular Division of the Plane (1958)

M.C. Escher (1898-1972) is one of the worlds most famous graphic artists, although occasionally produced watercolours and sculptures. Printmaking fascinated him for its beauty, technique and endless multiplications of his works
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Escher's Artwork

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Escher's Artwork
Art (technique, poetry, beauty) Perceptions of Geometry & reality as Mathematics

constructions

Eschers artwork
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M.C. Escher at the Alhambra

One major source of inspiration for Eschers designs is the Alhambra. He became fascinated by the REGULAR DIVISION OF THE PLANE and developed patterns -TESSELLATIONS- filling the plane with regular geometric structures and no overlaps or gaps.

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ART & MATHS: M.C. Escher

A BILINGUAL CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY - 4 ESO PLANNING THE ACTIVITY

Meeting MC Escher Educational visit to INFINITE

UNIVERSES, an Exibition about Eschers artwork.

Studying the Eschers world Undertaking the study of the Eschers artwork concerned with Art History and Maths. Several resources and a students workbook to carry out different assignments on Maths and History.
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Beln Pena y Luis M. Rodrguez

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Biography & Chronological Periods

Early work from 1916 1922 Italian Period from 1922 1935 Switzerland and Belgium 1935-1941 Back in Holland 1941 1954 Recognition and Success 1955-1972
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Escher's Techniques
"What is really so fascinating about graphic processes? What is that

strange power of attraction that keeps its hold on the graphic artist,

which is the reason he specializes to such an extent that, as a rule, he

does not engage in any other form of art? There are, I believe, three

elements that are an inherent part of this fascination:

1. desire for multiplication, 2. beauty of the craft,

3. forced limitations resulting from the technique."

(Escher, in Escher, 1989)
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Escher's Techniques
Intaglio
Mezzotint Woodcut

Printmaking Methods

Relief Printing

Wood Engraving
Linocut

Planographic
Stencilling

Lithography

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Printmaking Techniques
Printmaking Techniques
Basic Categories (According to Processes)
Relief
ink is applied to the original surface of the matrix
woodcut / woodblock (for Asian forms) wood engraving

Intaglio
ink is applied beneath the original surface of the matrix
engraving
etching mezzotint

Planographic
inked areas separated from noninked areas by chemical means

Stencil
ink or paint is pressed through a prepared screen

lithography monotyping digital techniques

screenprinting pochoir

linocut
metalcut

aquatint

Many of these techniques can also be combined, especially within the same family
Contemporary printmaking may include digital printing, photographic mediums,
or a combination of digital, photographic, and traditional processes.
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Escher's Techniques
Printmaking Methods - 1
Intaglio
Mezzotint

Mezzotint
The entire surface of a copper plate is roughened over with a rocker. Using a scraper and burnisher to flatten and press the copper, the artist makes areas of the surface smooth again, so that they do not hold ink and therefore print white. The mezzotint tcreates images with soft and subtle gradations of tones from dark to light.

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Escher's Techniques
Printmaking Methods - 2
Woodcut
Using various tools, the artist begins by cutting the grooves that form the design. Only the ungouged portion is inked. A roller is used to ink the surface, and thus the ink does not enter the hollow sections. The sheet of paper is placed on the inked block and pressure is applied to the back of the sheet. In woodcut, the wood used for printing is sawn along the length of the tree, which makes the surface relatively soft. The wood should ideally be worked in the direction of the grain to ensure a clean cut.

Relief Printing

Woodcut

Wood Engraving Wood Engraving

Unlike woodcut, in wood engraving the wood is sawn perpendicular to the trunk, producing an extremely hard surface. By gluing several pieces together, an uniform block of adequate dimensions may be produced. The hard surface allows the artist to attain various shades of grey by fine crosshatching. The wood may be worked in any direction, but the technique requires great dexterity and attention to detail.
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Escher's Techniques
Printmaking Methods - 2
Linocut
Printing from linoleum has two advantages: it is inexpensive, and it allows cutting in every direction. Unlike wood, linoleum has virtually no grain, and so it gives the printed sections a uniform appearance. One slight disadvantage is that fine lines are more difficult to execute than in wood.
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Relief Printing

Linocut

Escher's Techniques
Printmaking Methods 3
Lithography 1
Lithography, which may appear somewhat mysterious at first, is based on the natural repulsion of oil and water. The technique may be summed up in five steps: 1. Using a crayon or a brush dipped in oily ink, the artist draws a design on a limestone slab.

Planographic
Lithography 2
2. The stone is then bathed in a solution of nitric acid and gum arabic. The solution allows the oil to thoroughly penetrate the stone and makes the unoiled portion even more sensitive to water and less sensitive to oil. 3. Before printing, water is generously applied to the stone. The water saturates the unoiled portions.

Lithography

Lithography 3
4. The stone is inked with a roller. The ink will adhere only to the oily areas; the watersoaked portions will repel the ink. 5. Printing is done on a lithographic press (equipped with a scraper).

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Escher's Themes
Space Structure Surface Structure
Landscapes Crossing Worlds Mathematical forms
Metamorphosis Cycles - Tessellations Infinite Universes Perspectives & Arquitectures Impossible Structures & Worlds
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Projecting 3dimensional space to the plane

Escher's Themes:
Mathematics in Escher 's Artwork

Space Structure Surface Structure

Regular Polihedra or Platonic Solids Archimedean Solids

Regular Division of the plane: Reflections, Translations or glides and Rotations Topology: Mbius Strip Non-Euclidean Geometry and Fractal Geometry

Projecting 3dimensional space to the plane

Perspective: Cylinder Perspective 3 Dimensional Representation

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Escher's Themes: Why Mathematics?

Maths as a tool:
Processual Art
To represent the world, his world: continuous, dual, dialectic, relativist, cyclic, magic, staggering, bewildering. To represent the conflict between reality and imagination To represent the perception mystery.
Mathematics laws are neither creations nor human inventions. They merely are, and they exist completely apart from the human spirit. (Escher)

Maths as magic structure under reality Maths as a concept we can visualized:

Conceptual Art

Despite having no formal training in mathematics, Eschers artwork has been considered by some mathematicians as a way of visualizing difficult mathematics concepts.
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Escher's Themes I: Space Structure

Landscapes, Crossing Worlds and Mathematical forms

Platonic Solids or (Regular Polyhedra) Archimedean Solids

Flatworms, lithograph 1959

Stars, wood engraving, 1948

Waterfall, lithograph, 1961

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Tetrahedral Planetoid, woodcut 1954

Escher's Themes II: Surface Structure

Metamorphosis, Cycles Tessellations and Infinite Universes
Regular Division of the plane Transformational Geometry or Rigid Motion: Reflections, Translations (or Glides) and Rotations
Horsemen, 1946 Metamorphosis, from his book Regular Division of the Plane, 1938 Cycle, lithograph, 1938

Metamorphosis
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Escher's Themes II: Surface Structure

Metamorphosis, Cycles Tessellations and Infinite Universes
Print Gallery, lithograph, 1956

Topology: Mbius Strip and rubber sheet geometry Non-Euclidean Geometry Fractal Geometry

Mbius Strip I, wood engraving, 1961 Balcony, lithograph, 1945 Mbius Strip II, wood engraving, 1963

Circle limit III, woodcut, 1959

Square limit, woodcut, 1964

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Escher's Themes III: Projecting

3dimensional space to the plane

Up and Down, lithograph, 1947

Perspective: Cylinder perspective 3 Dimensional Representation

Relativity, lithograph, 1953

Belvedere (Detail), lithograph, 1958

Reptiles, lithograph, 1943

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Ascending and Descending, lithograph, 1960

Resources
On line (websites & videos)
in your students workbook

See chapter Resources

Art Glossary

See on your students workbook

Activities. Art Assignments .

PPT Presentation To download from IES Albayzin website (http://www.iesalbayzin.org/index.php/departamentos-didacticos/65dpto-geografia-e-historia/396-4o-eso-art-a-maths-mc-escher)

MC Escher. Art & Maths. Art Assignments Resources. One, Two and Three-point Perspective La derisoire effervescence des comprimes by F. Boucq
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