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Nom oficial: Locher, Johannes Lodewijk
Data de naixement: 1938
Gènere: male
Nacionalitat: Netherlands
Lloc de naixement: Kupang, Timor, Indonesia (Dutch East Indies)
Professions: museum director
university professor
Organitzacions: Gemeentemuseum The Hague

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Ressenyes

M.C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work… de F. H. Bool

Maybe you've heard of M. C. Escher, the famous woodblock artist known for his Italian landscape prints? Don't associate him with landscapes? There's a fascinating story here.

Escher was born on June 17th, 1898, in the Netherlands. He did poorly in school, but excelled at woodblock print, and was already producing compelling material by his early twenties.

When Escher was 23, he set off for Italy, a landscape with which he quickly became enamored. During the first decade-and-a-half of his professional life as a print maker, he was known for his Italian landscapes.

All of this changed in Escher's mid thirties. First, visited the Alhamba (a 13th-Century Islamic palace in Spain) for his second time and became entranced by the "field patterns" in the ornamentation.

With WWII impending, Escher left Italy (to Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland). He says, "I found the outward appearance of landscape and architecture less striking...Thus I felt compelled to withdraw from...illustrating of my surroundings...bringing my inner vision into being."

When Escher was 40, his father died. From this point forward, Escher's distinctive style comes to the fore, and with it, the renown he is now associated with, in contrast with his earlier period dominated by landscape art.

Bruno Ernst, a teacher of mathematics, has categorized Escher's later works into seven domains:
1. Penetration of worlds
2. The illusion of space
3. The regular division of the plane
4. Perspective
5. Regular solids and spirals
6. The impossible
7. The infinite

Personally, I am most fascinated with Escher's depiction of what architect Christopher Alexander would refer to as "deep interlock," or what Escher saw as "interpenetration." For example, "Three World," in which we can simultaneously view the fish, the leaves, and the trees.

This also becomes apparent in Escher's "field patterns." In these images, there is no "negative space," as each "figure" is surrounded by the "ground" of another, equally engaging figure. Alexander refers to this concept as "positive space."

Tragically, despite his exposure to the Alhambra, Escher failed to realize that his art fell within a rich and storied craft stretching back at least a millennium. “I have often wondered why, in their decorative zeal, the designers of patterns such as these [at the Alhambra] never, as far as I know, went beyond abstract motifs to recognizable representation.”

Whereas Escher saw his work as contributing to a narrative arc in a progression of art from geometric figures to realistic depictions, Alexander deftly articulates the exact opposite thesis in his masterwork on carpets—that such a trend represents the degeneration of an art form.

Questions of generation and degeneration aside, we can all agree that Escher's work is playful. I first fell in love with his work as a child, and much of his material has the spark of fantasy and magic.

A few notes on the book:

It isn't quite a biography. The editors cover the first part of Escher's life in what you might refer to as a biography, but then the book moves into letters exchanged an essays. Although the letters are interesting, and would make for good appendices, the quality of the description of Escher's life suffers as a result of them becoming the primary narrative.

It is interesting to reflect on the fact that, for Escher, form was far more important than color. As a result, it isn't surprising he chose printmaking as opposed to, say watercolor.… (més)

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willszal | Hi ha 5 ressenyes més | Mar 11, 2024 |

The World of M. C. Escher de J. l. Locher

A collection of Escher in large format, with a short introduction and bio of the artist. I love the art, but this book only reproduces 9 of Escher's works in color - the rest are black and white. For these the colors used are noted in the descriptions (!). Maybe the editors will do a companion for Michelangelo, with the Sistine Chapel in monochrome Poloroids...

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dhaxton | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Apr 3, 2023 |

The beauty of intimacy : lens and paper de Jonieke van Es

De door Carel Bath samengestelde tentoonstelling Lens and Paper the Beauty of Intimacy in het Haags Gemeentemuseum beperkt zich tot drie media (fotografie, tekenkunst en videokunst) en richt zich op één specifiek thema: intimiteit. Balth putte voor zijn tentoonstelling rijkelijk uit de collectie van de Nederlandse bankier George Loudon, die hij al jaren adviseert bij zijn kunstaankopen. Een kleine zestig kunstenaars uit achttien verschillende landen zijn op de tentoonstelling vertegenwoordigd.

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petervanbeveren | Nov 24, 2020 |

The World of M. C. Escher de M. C. Escher

I love this book. One of the best things about it is that the discussion of the collected works, which just points out interesting parts, without trying to guess the mindset or meaning behind them.

I've had it for many years, and it still looks (relatively) new. Sometimes I consider getting a new copy, just in case, so as to save the original. Then I remember that I am also old, and that my daughter has her own copy, and that there's no need.

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Lyndatrue | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jun 26, 2020 |

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