Perception and Illusion in the Prints of M.C Escher
Arnold Berleant (p. 194), in commenting on the work of M.C. Escher, stated that ôarts that tend to reach toward what lies outside are exemplified by...optical art (including the visually magnetic art of Escher).ö Such art forms and works, says Berleant (p. 195), offer ôentrance to new regions of sensibility and awarenessö and introduce questions regarding the ôkinds of sensory and conscious experience that are germane to the arts and how and what they signify.ö In the case of the substantial body of work created by Maurits Cornelius Escher, inspiration drawn from mathematical ideas including structures such as the plane and projective geometry are important in focusing the viewerÆs perceptions and creating illusions (Goode, p. 39). This brief essay will examine the effects and sources of perception and illusion in the work of Escher, arguing that a solid mathematical analysis of space and place underpin his creations.
Escher was born in 1898 in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, and his first works date from the 1920s and early 1930s when he was living in Rome. He did not, however, achieve fame or public popularity until the 1950s. Goode (p. 39) states that ôthe art world has hardly taken notice, except to condescend. But the public passionately loves (his work).ö Escher claimed to work with no mathematics or geometry in mind. According to Goode (p. 40), Escher was well aware that his work was rooted in geometry and mathematics; Escher stated that ôA plane, which should be considered limitless on all sides, can be filled with or divided into similar geometric figures that border each other on all sides without leaving any empty spaces.ö These words were written in EscherÆs own commentary on two of his works, ôWaterfall (1961),ö and ôSnakes (1969).ö
In EscherÆs art there is the ambiguity of figure and ground; the ambiguity of two and three dimensions on...