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The Magic of M.C.Escher
M.C. Escher, the artist who lived from 1898 to 1972, suffers from horrible overexposure. Who hasn't seen the college dorm room posters, postcards, T-shirts, and coffee mugs of such well-worn images as a hand drawing another hand or gothic buildings with never-ending staircases? The mass reproduction of these images has carved a firm place in our popular culture, yet made the work dismissible as modern art. Beyond the familiar images, though, is an immense body of work. The Magic of M.C. Escher covers in depth the graphic illustrations, woodcuts, and lithographs of Escher's career. The artist has always attracted the attention of scientists, mathematicians, and teenage boys everywhere; the popular 1980s game Dungeons & Dragons seems to borrow heavily from the systematic yet mystical quality of his drawing style. With his amazingly repetitive graphic illustration and unflinchingly control of size, shape, and shading, Escher draws like a human computer. One can only wonder what he might have done with today's graphic tools. The book itself is creatively put together, with foldouts, seemingly endless images, and a loving introduction by the director of the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague. The minimal text selections that appear throughout are quotes from Escher himself, many taken from letters to family members. These personal musings give candid insight into what he thought about his peers, his career, and his "I really do feel these days like a kind of 'specialist,' and I don't want to 'depend' on my specialty alone, but I also feel it to be my duty to devote myself to that as much as possible." This remarkable book is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the astounding work of the man who could create two-dimensional origami with a pencil. --J.P. Cohen
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
J.L. Locher
11 books3 followersJohannes Lodewijk Locher is curator of the Modern Art Department of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 20, 2022
“For the first time, Escher’s most important pictures and drawings are presented as a true spectacle. This is done in unusual sequences of images with, at relevant points, enlarged details that strengthen the visual sensations evoked by Escher’s particular imagery.”
This quote from art historian and Escher expert J.L. Locher’s introduction. For me, the sheer size of Escher’s bizarre, mathematically precise illustrations greatly enhance the visual impact of all the stunning combinations and permutations of intertwining, interconnecting, interweaving images, images that dazzle, surprise and open one’s imagination as if by a powerful hallucinogen. Sure, those South American shamans can take their ayahuasca, but we in the modern world have the magic of M. C. Escher and this exquisite coffee table book only heightens the magic.
Escher is famous for his use of complex tessellation, those interlocking images of birds, frogs, fish, griffin, angels, demons, lizards, gnomes and various other beings, geometries and patterns.
Commenting on his own creations, Escher states, “At moments of great enthusiasm it seems to me that no one in the world has ever made something this beautiful and important.” And if any viewer questions the quality of beauty in Escher’s images, reflecting that such odd, distorted amalgamations contain more of the ugly than any usual, “normal” measure of attractiveness, then these words of the artist might be illuminating: “Perhaps all I pursue is astonishment and so I try to awaken only astonishment in my viewers. Sometimes “beauty” is a nasty business.”
Another great Escher quote: “An artist’s aim is to depict dreams, ideas or problems in such a way that other people can observe and consider them.” What I personally find so compelling is all of Escher’s fantastic dreamscapes, whimsical and unbelievable, curious and out-of-this-world, are in a kind of visual tension with the undeniable fact that these impossible images exist in the first place and my eyes tell me “seeing is believing,” – yes, I see those hooded men walking down the steps and other hooded men walking up the same steps but, wait, that’s not even remotely doable, you can’t go up and down ad infinitum leading nowhere at the same time! Yet this is exactly what I see happening in Ascending and Descending. As if perhaps anticipating the tension I allude to here, Escher writes, “The illusion that an artist wishes to create is much more subjective and far more important than the objective, physical means with which he tries to create it.”
My absolute favorite Escher in this book is Encounter, where two figures, one white, one black, are locked in multiple tessellations on the back wall, the white one grinning, holding his right hand out ready to receive a handshake, the black one with his huge head and enormous pointed nose in the posture more of a chimpanzee then a man, Both white and black men emerge from the wall’s tessellation and walk in their respective single files around a circular pool, finally meeting one another for a handshake at the front.
Actually, Escher’s illustration only captures the first handshake. We as viewers are left, via our imagination, to envision the next steps (no pun intended) leading up to a string of black and white handshakes. And to add even more spice to this series of quizzical encounters, at the point of shaking hands, each black man will issue what looks like a warning with his up pointed left index finger. Escher had this comment on his work: “I was asked, among other things, why does the black on have such a big nose. Well that’s pretty obvious. That’s because he’s inside the belly of the white one. I can’t help that.”
Let me ask: what other artist surpasses M.C. Escher in combining mathematical exactitude, including such specialties as hyperbolic geometry and topology, with creative imagination and the sheer joy of expressing visual possibilities and impossibilities? If there are such artists out there, I will make it my business to become acquainted with their work sooner rather than later. And how did M. C. Escher use his eyes to penetrate the world? I’ll let the artist answer in his own words: “That which an artist makes is a mirror image of what he sees around him.” What do you see around you? Need some inspiration to expand your vision? Here is your book.
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March 13, 2024Reviewed in August 2015
I visited the Escher museum in The Hague some weeks ago. It was a real treat because I've been fascinated by Escher's work since I first saw his ‘Hand Drawing Itself’ and some of his other drawing puzzles when I was a teenager. I often doodle my own versions of puzzle drawings, turning a person's profile into an architectural feature, for example, or making a geometric pattern reveal a face hidden inside it. There's an absurdity about such puzzle drawings that I love. There's no meaning, just lines assembled in curious ways. I simply enjoy the astonishment of making a few lines amount to more than is at first apparent.
Escher seems to enjoy astonishment too. The works I saw at the museum, and in this anthology which I bought in the museum shop, are truly astonishing, and while at first I thought they were terribly complex feats of magic and illusion, by carefully examining the different elements, I found that I began to understand the tricks behind the illusions, the way he suggests the spatial in the flat and the flat in the spatial.
In the Escher Museum, there is a wall sized photo of the staircase at Escher's old school which helps to understand the way he looked at the world:
If you look at the underside of the stairway on the upper right in a certain way, it seems to exist on a different plane. It really helps to explain how Escher, who must have gone up and down that staircase many, many times, and also watched others going up and down, became fascinated with drawing more and more impossibly angled stairways:
The works that least resemble magic puzzles are his series of Metamorphoses. I had never realised how many of these he had done. Here are just two examples:
Like a writer, he had certain themes he reworked constantly in these series.
This Angel versus Devil sphere illustrates one of them: the dark side of our world versus the brighter side. In one of his Metamorphoses, day becomes night as black birds turn into white ones.
In another, Verbum, pure white doves become fish which turn into great black toads which then become fierce looking birds before turning back into innocent white doves again.
It's tempting to see in Verbum and some of the other metamorphoses a comment on the occupation of his homeland during WWII, and its subsequent liberation but Escher refuses to weigh his work down with particular significance : My little birds, little fish, little frogs cannot be described: all they ask for is to be thought through, they ask for a mode of thought that I have found to be present in only a few people. It is a kind of small philosophy that has nothing to do with literature, a pleasure in arranging forms and in giving meaning to each part of the plane. It has more to do with music than literature.
.......................................................................................
I've added so much info and images in the comment section that I'm going to edit some of the content in here for those who don't have time to read the comments:
This was one of the images that was highlighted in the museum, with several versions of it on display:
There was an accompanying text, an extract from one of Escher's father's letters - I think..
He spoke of walking with his son on a tree-lined path beside a lake on a moonlit night when suddenly his son stopped, and turning his back to the lake, bent over to view the scene upside down from between his legs. Just then two acorns dropped - plop - plop - into the water, disturbing the reflection of the moon in its surface.
That was the happy accident that produced this work - if I'm remembering correctly. I didn't find this anecdote in the book but perhaps I missed it.
The book gives a lot of attention to this creation though:
Escher calls this figure the Pedalternorotandomovens Centroculatus Articulosus which, according to the text you can see on the page alongside the cute PCA, originated (generatio spontanea) from the dissatisfaction with nature's lack of wheel-shaped living creatures capable of moving forward in rolling fashion... I just love this guy.
I may add more later...
.........................................................................................
Some of the text of this review appeared in my review of John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor - in spite of Escher's desire to want nothing to do with literature...
I visited the Escher museum in The Hague some weeks ago. It was a real treat because I've been fascinated by Escher's work since I first saw his ‘Hand Drawing Itself’ and some of his other drawing puzzles when I was a teenager. I often doodle my own versions of puzzle drawings, turning a person's profile into an architectural feature, for example, or making a geometric pattern reveal a face hidden inside it. There's an absurdity about such puzzle drawings that I love. There's no meaning, just lines assembled in curious ways. I simply enjoy the astonishment of making a few lines amount to more than is at first apparent.
Escher seems to enjoy astonishment too. The works I saw at the museum, and in this anthology which I bought in the museum shop, are truly astonishing, and while at first I thought they were terribly complex feats of magic and illusion, by carefully examining the different elements, I found that I began to understand the tricks behind the illusions, the way he suggests the spatial in the flat and the flat in the spatial.
In the Escher Museum, there is a wall sized photo of the staircase at Escher's old school which helps to understand the way he looked at the world:
If you look at the underside of the stairway on the upper right in a certain way, it seems to exist on a different plane. It really helps to explain how Escher, who must have gone up and down that staircase many, many times, and also watched others going up and down, became fascinated with drawing more and more impossibly angled stairways:
The works that least resemble magic puzzles are his series of Metamorphoses. I had never realised how many of these he had done. Here are just two examples:
Like a writer, he had certain themes he reworked constantly in these series.
This Angel versus Devil sphere illustrates one of them: the dark side of our world versus the brighter side. In one of his Metamorphoses, day becomes night as black birds turn into white ones.
In another, Verbum, pure white doves become fish which turn into great black toads which then become fierce looking birds before turning back into innocent white doves again.
It's tempting to see in Verbum and some of the other metamorphoses a comment on the occupation of his homeland during WWII, and its subsequent liberation but Escher refuses to weigh his work down with particular significance : My little birds, little fish, little frogs cannot be described: all they ask for is to be thought through, they ask for a mode of thought that I have found to be present in only a few people. It is a kind of small philosophy that has nothing to do with literature, a pleasure in arranging forms and in giving meaning to each part of the plane. It has more to do with music than literature.
.......................................................................................
I've added so much info and images in the comment section that I'm going to edit some of the content in here for those who don't have time to read the comments:
This was one of the images that was highlighted in the museum, with several versions of it on display:
There was an accompanying text, an extract from one of Escher's father's letters - I think..
He spoke of walking with his son on a tree-lined path beside a lake on a moonlit night when suddenly his son stopped, and turning his back to the lake, bent over to view the scene upside down from between his legs. Just then two acorns dropped - plop - plop - into the water, disturbing the reflection of the moon in its surface.
That was the happy accident that produced this work - if I'm remembering correctly. I didn't find this anecdote in the book but perhaps I missed it.
The book gives a lot of attention to this creation though:
Escher calls this figure the Pedalternorotandomovens Centroculatus Articulosus which, according to the text you can see on the page alongside the cute PCA, originated (generatio spontanea) from the dissatisfaction with nature's lack of wheel-shaped living creatures capable of moving forward in rolling fashion... I just love this guy.
I may add more later...
.........................................................................................
Some of the text of this review appeared in my review of John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor - in spite of Escher's desire to want nothing to do with literature...
October 7, 2015
When I visited The Hague last year, I didn't realize it would be on a day the Escher Museum was closed. I stood on its front steps, admiring the gold above its door, and hoped the sign was wrong.
Then, a few months ago, in the comments section of Fionnuala's review of The Sot-Weed Factor, I mentioned my disappointment. She promptly recommended this book to me and I promptly ordered it. I'm grateful she recently added a review, as I'm not capable of words right now and direct you to hers: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
To put just a little bit of my own spin on this, I add a phrase from a letter that Escher wrote to one of his sons that reminds me of Walter Inglis Anderson: Any schoolboy with a little aptitude might very well draw better than I perhaps; but what he most often lacks is the tough yearning for realization..., the key word being realization, a crucial concept to Anderson.
Then, a few months ago, in the comments section of Fionnuala's review of The Sot-Weed Factor, I mentioned my disappointment. She promptly recommended this book to me and I promptly ordered it. I'm grateful she recently added a review, as I'm not capable of words right now and direct you to hers: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
To put just a little bit of my own spin on this, I add a phrase from a letter that Escher wrote to one of his sons that reminds me of Walter Inglis Anderson: Any schoolboy with a little aptitude might very well draw better than I perhaps; but what he most often lacks is the tough yearning for realization..., the key word being realization, a crucial concept to Anderson.
May 11, 2023
This was mostly pictures but there was some text and i read it so i’m counting it since i’m behind on my reading goal….
April 20, 2024
Rated: 4.5*
Content: This book has large 30cmx30cm (12"x12") pages where some pages open up to become two pages or four pages wide. Many pages include short textual comments/descriptions but the book's emphasis on the drawings including the rough drawings that led to the final work.
Escher has many fascinating drawings that stretch the mind. The ones that I most enjoyed fit into these categories:
- the impossible, physics-wise like the steps that continuously ascend around four corners or the water that runs continuously around a flat canal but drops at one point to drive a waterwheel
- the pictures that changes depending on your focus. For example: focus on the light colour, and the unicorns face one way; change your focus and now black unicorns are facing the other way
- the gradual transformation (like the book cover but many others) from one type of animal to another or through a series of animals
Analysis: The man was an artistic genius. His often mind-bending work makes you appreciate the diversity of the human mind and to be glad that reproductions of his work can be captured in a book for many to enjoy.
Content: This book has large 30cmx30cm (12"x12") pages where some pages open up to become two pages or four pages wide. Many pages include short textual comments/descriptions but the book's emphasis on the drawings including the rough drawings that led to the final work.
Escher has many fascinating drawings that stretch the mind. The ones that I most enjoyed fit into these categories:
- the impossible, physics-wise like the steps that continuously ascend around four corners or the water that runs continuously around a flat canal but drops at one point to drive a waterwheel
- the pictures that changes depending on your focus. For example: focus on the light colour, and the unicorns face one way; change your focus and now black unicorns are facing the other way
- the gradual transformation (like the book cover but many others) from one type of animal to another or through a series of animals
Analysis: The man was an artistic genius. His often mind-bending work makes you appreciate the diversity of the human mind and to be glad that reproductions of his work can be captured in a book for many to enjoy.
Read
June 13, 2024In the early days of social media, mainly on Facebook, some illusory images of infinite spaces or spaces being lopped were circulating. It was so popular and omnipresent that it seemed like those images came into being by themselves. Little that I knew the works were the masterful works of M.C. Escher.
Though Escher’s styles nor his subject matters are my personal favorites, I can’t help but respect his craft. His art is marked by mathematical motifs, featuring impossible constructions, explorations of the infinite, and intricate architectural deceptions.
Escher’s initial works were realistic, inspired by the Italian landscapes and structures he encountered while living in Rome from 1922 to 1935. His art later transitioned to incorporate “mental imagery,” influenced by his visits to the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and its mathematically precise Moorish tiling.
In his later years, Escher’s interest in the systematic partitioning of planes manifested in his artwork, as he began integrating recognizable figures into abstract patterns, allowing for fluid transitions within his prints. This approach is exemplified in his Metamorphosis series, where distinct shapes seamlessly evolve into entirely new forms, reflecting his fascination with transformation.
Escher’s talent for illustrating impossible spaces and playing with perspective became a signature aspect of his work, often provoking viewers to question their perceptions and delve into the enigmatic realms he crafted. Despite claiming a lack of mathematical prowess, Escher’s art deeply resonated with mathematicians and scientists, and his influence persists in the realms of art and science.
Though Escher’s styles nor his subject matters are my personal favorites, I can’t help but respect his craft. His art is marked by mathematical motifs, featuring impossible constructions, explorations of the infinite, and intricate architectural deceptions.
Escher’s initial works were realistic, inspired by the Italian landscapes and structures he encountered while living in Rome from 1922 to 1935. His art later transitioned to incorporate “mental imagery,” influenced by his visits to the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and its mathematically precise Moorish tiling.
In his later years, Escher’s interest in the systematic partitioning of planes manifested in his artwork, as he began integrating recognizable figures into abstract patterns, allowing for fluid transitions within his prints. This approach is exemplified in his Metamorphosis series, where distinct shapes seamlessly evolve into entirely new forms, reflecting his fascination with transformation.
Escher’s talent for illustrating impossible spaces and playing with perspective became a signature aspect of his work, often provoking viewers to question their perceptions and delve into the enigmatic realms he crafted. Despite claiming a lack of mathematical prowess, Escher’s art deeply resonated with mathematicians and scientists, and his influence persists in the realms of art and science.
September 16, 2019
Superb book that gathers many of Escher's astonishing works.. the artist whom I first got to know through an eye-mind-aching jigsaw puzzle of his "Convex and Concave", which gave me the opportunity to deeply get swallowed into the very details of the painting.
However, it was not the brilliance of his works that made it one of the best "book" experiences I've ever had, it was his deep thoughts presented in the publication in parts of his lectures, articles and letters. Those thoughts that reveal how "true" artist Maurits Cornelis Escher was.
Simply, one of the gems I proudly have in my library.
However, it was not the brilliance of his works that made it one of the best "book" experiences I've ever had, it was his deep thoughts presented in the publication in parts of his lectures, articles and letters. Those thoughts that reveal how "true" artist Maurits Cornelis Escher was.
Simply, one of the gems I proudly have in my library.
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October 6, 2018Such a fantastic tour through Eschews amazing work in perspective. I absolutely love the reflective sphere portraits.
February 20, 2023
I'm a long time fan of M.C. Escher, and this is a beautiful enlightening book! It's almost entirely art - finished pieces, studies, and details. I appreciate that the minimal text in this book is primarily produced by Escher himself in the form of self analysis (in letter snippets). He's very candid about the obsession to translate something from the mind-space to the physical world, the drive to produce something that meets the complete approval of oneself and one's peers and always fall short, and the details of production that no one but the artist truly understands and appreciates. I'd much rather read brief meaningful wisdoms and complaints from the artist than all the text in the world of someone else's analysis!
June 13, 2020
I am not an artist but just an Escher enthusiast. As a fan of his work this is an excellent book compiling not only his well known works but also lesser known works and his sketches and studies that went into making his art. Combined with various quotes from his lectures and letters Escher's craft comes to life and is accessible to someone with no art background.
July 19, 2023
This is exactly what I am looking for in a art history book. Full-page uncut reproductions, extended pages for large pieces, drafts and drawing to reveal his process, original extracts of his journal/letters/analysis on each page instead of a someone's irrelevant essay, clear legends, high quality print, great format. A wonderful found!
August 19, 2023
This book is fantastic, final images and sketches has an amazing quality but what I loved the most was his letters! You can feel his struggles, joys, passion and commitment for the world and his ideas and the time he took executed them I believe this is a great book for people who love processes and wAnt to stay true to their own ideas even when people dont validate them.
September 17, 2017
Escher is striking. Imagine loops looping. Composing impossible possibilities. Looping still? You may ask confused but delighted. Sometimes going from simple to complex. From flat to alive. Forget gravity for a moment. His spiced reality shocks. This matches well with Hofstadter’s dam good book, GEB.
February 25, 2018
Nice images in addition to text supplemented by his letters to his friends and family. The fact that man was a mathematician and an artist complements his brilliance. A pleasant read.
January 4, 2020
I just love his art, especially where it turns to whimsy and mind-bending incongruity.
August 15, 2020
Don't mind me, just casually w e e p i n g throughout this entire book, what the fuck
July 17, 2023
This is a certified based mc Escher moment
December 26, 2024
An absolutely phenomenal collection of artwork and Escher's thought process behind them.
March 17, 2023
The best posthumous artistic autobiography I've seen! Admittedly, this is an uncrowded niche. 😇
The place to start here is with the publisher's summary, and the brief artist's biography provided just below that. I've never given any deep thought to Escher's work. Rather they were in the background in my college years, when Escher geometric puzzle posters were all the rage in dorm rooms and college apartments. His art is better than that, and you should really look to see if your library has a copy of this one. I came across it in a catalog-trawl of Abrams books, the premier American art-book publishers, and this book is good even by their high standards. An easy 5 stars! My highest recommendation. If you have any interest in MC Escher's work, you need to check this one out.
The place to start here is with the publisher's summary, and the brief artist's biography provided just below that. I've never given any deep thought to Escher's work. Rather they were in the background in my college years, when Escher geometric puzzle posters were all the rage in dorm rooms and college apartments. His art is better than that, and you should really look to see if your library has a copy of this one. I came across it in a catalog-trawl of Abrams books, the premier American art-book publishers, and this book is good even by their high standards. An easy 5 stars! My highest recommendation. If you have any interest in MC Escher's work, you need to check this one out.
February 21, 2019
A true eye-candy. Nice format, excellent body of work... And very interesting thoughts captured from various letters, lectures ex cetera. Exactly how you would like to picture an art book - vivid, full of images, close ups, explanations. I haven't read any other books on Escher, but I doubt it could get much better than this.
May 27, 2008
Physically beautiful book. This definitely should be one of the Escher Books you have in your collection. They have crammed as much art into it as they could, including the front and back cover of the book and the INSIDE of the dust jacket. A wonderful Coffee Table Book.
March 20, 2014
I especially like looking at the art of Escher and the way he uses perspective to trick the viewer's eye. I wanted my grandson to look at these images also. Anything to get him off the computer for a while.
December 24, 2014
Fabuloso
February 2, 2019
would read again
Read
November 16, 2022prettyy picturess + i liked the anecdotes that were chosen. esher is a good artist and writer :))
Want to read
December 15, 2017I think M. C. Escher saw what many people don't see or pretend not to see... his accounting is strange and eerie. Which makes his art more interesting.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews