Mc escher biography tessellations mc
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M. C. Escher Biography
M. C. Escher, otherwise known as Maurits Cornelis Escher, carried many titles during his career as an artist. Often he was, and still is, referred to as a Specialist in Optical Art, Master of Symmetry, Dutch Engraver, Dutch Graphic Artist, Dutch Illustrator and Dutch Mathematician. All these titles hold true to the diversity of this man's style. His passions, or addictions as he so often called them, focused on tessellation (inter linking figurative work) and regular plane division.
Escher, born to a civil engineer June 17, 1898, was encouraged by his family at a young age to pursue an education in Architectural Arts. His lack of interest and poor grades led him in a different direction with his artistic talents. It was not until he reached age twenty-one that he discovered his true calling: Graphic Art. From then on, his success story writes itself. He taught himself in the areas of math and science through the study of technical papers in order to achi
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The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher
For me it remains an open question whether [this work]
pertains to the realm of mathematics or to that of art.
—M.C. Escher
Introduction
Self Portrait, 1948
Maurits Cornelis Escher created unique and fascinating works of art that explore and exhibit a wide range of mathematical ideas.
He was born in Leeuwarden, Holland in 1898, and when he was in school his family planned for him to follow his father’s career of architecture. However, poor grades and an aptitude for drawing and design eventually led him to a career in the graphic arts, specializing in woodcuts, mezzotints, and lithographs.
His work went almost unnoticed until the 1950’s, but by 1956 he had given his first important exhibition, was written up in Time magazine, and acquired a world-wide reputation. Among his greatest admirers were mathematicians, who recognized in his work an extraordinary visualization of mathematical principles. This was the more remarka
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One of the greatest geniuses of the illustration of the last century, M. C. Escher, was born in June 118 years ago. While there may be nothing special about that number, this ephemeris is a good occasion to celebrate and revisit his unique art, based on mathematical concepts and optical phenomena.
Maybe because he was a sickly child in his native Friesland (northern Holland), Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) felt attracted to the bright and balmy Mediterranean. Around it he roamed for years, before returning to his homeland for good at the start of World War II. The landscapes and townscapes that predominate in his Italian period will later reappear as the background for many of his best-known works, unmistakeably inspired by mathematics.
Back to the cold and damp north, he developed optical or geometrical transformations often starting from his previous prints or sketches. This is the case of his famous “The Print Gallery” and “Balcony”. The latter is b