M. C. Escher

November 17, 2017 – May 19, 2018

Unveiling Escher’s Illusions

E4E WorkshopThis workshop is designed to help teachers convey to their students:• The complex processes and mental gymnastics that went

into solving some of Escher’s visual puzzles • The significant impact that mathematics, science, and

music had on Escher’s art

This workshop will include 4 activities:1. Explain the principle of the Möbius strip and describe

its relevance in Escher’s style while showing MöbiusStrip II. § Teachers will create their own strips. § Have teachers draw a continuous line on their

strips without lifting their pencils so they can see how the 2-sided paper has now become a 1-sided representation of infinity.

E4E Workshop, continued

2. Teachers will create the Droste effect using 2 mirrors with a glue stick in between.§ Briefly discuss the Print Gallery, based on the Droste effect, asking teachers

to describe what they are seeing and helping them understand how this impossible image defies logic.

E4E Workshop, continued

3. Teachers will attempt to draw a Penrose Triangle and Necker Cube. Remind them of the incredible brain power and time Escher expended before finally figuring out how to make these perplexing images work. (Show Belvedere and Waterfall.)

§ Mention that Escher’s children would often be required to remain quiet in the house while their father worked behind closed doors—sometimes for weeks at a time. Then, when the mathematical problem was solved, Escher would joyfully open the door and become his less obsessed, less cranky self again. The hard work was over and the fun ensued when Escher began making the actual print—his favorite part of the artistic process.

E4E Workshop, continued

4. On a single piece of paper, teachers will use colored pencils and Sharpies to freely create shapes and designs based on 4 (time permitting) musical excerpts.

§ Remind teachers how Escher was greatly inspired by music while creating many of his prints, particularly the compositions of J. S. Bach.

§ Begin by explaining that sounds and visual images have much in common: line, rhythm, mood, color—even texture. All of these elements are used to convey meaning and send specific messages.

§ Example:v Show two different abstract shapes:

v Now, show two different nonsense words:

EEEKIPINSKI MOOLABALOOBv Which nonsense word belongs with which abstract shape? Have the

teachers explain WHY they made this particular choice.

E4E Workshop, continued

§ As another example of the connection between sound and visual imagery, play the following excerpt and ask teachers to discuss how the music soundslike the print looks. v Listen to Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 1, Bk. 1

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezZdbzreNcs• Show Whirlpools image• Use terms that apply to both the visual arts and music as you

prompt the following discussion:Ø How do the shape and contours of the melody in the Bach

Prelude correspond to the contours, lines, and shapes in Escher’s print?

Ø In music, the particular sound of an instrument is know as tone color. Likewise, an artist also uses colors to convey his message. How do the red, white, and gray colors in Whirlpools match the tone color of the music?

Ø Both music and the visual arts have rhythm. How are the rhythms of Bach’s Prelude like the visual rhythms of Whirlpools?

Ø All art forms have expressive qualities that make us feel the mood of the piece. How do the mood and underlying feelings evoked in Prelude compare with the overall mood, feeling, and message of Whirlpools?

E4E Workshop, continued

§ Now teachers will respond to the following four musical excerpts by creating visual imagery that feels like the music sounds.

v For example, ask them to consider the “color” of the music; and remind them that as the music changes, they will probably want to change the colors they are using to match the tone color of the excerpt.

v Or if the musical line is jagged, their visual line should be jagged. If it is flowing, their visual lines should be correspondingly flowing.

§ At the same time the teachers are providing visual responses to the musical excerpts, show the four Escher prints that we think best correspond to the music playing.

§ Remind teachers that, unlike Escher, they are not trying to create a work of art. Rather, they are trying to create a visual response to sound. Like Escher, however, the teachers are finding visual inspiration by listening to music.

§ Play the following musical excerpts (the length of each excerpt should depend on how much time you have left), while showing the corresponding Escher print:

v Listen to Debussy’s La Cathédrale Engloutie• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5liSvIrR3xk• La Cathédrale Engloutie

v Listen to Glass’s Etude No. 9• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6Ui4ZiI1o• Bond of Union

v Listen to Steve Reich’s Piano Phase• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P_9hDzG1i0• Swans

v Listen to Medtner’s Forgotten Melodies, Op. 38, No. 6• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXAe1PccyY&index=6&list=PL-

GsWSluOev2mYdpM5hMhpGYc7-nnvO4S• The Bridge

Images to Project

Belvedere,1958Lithograph,18.2x11.6”

NeckerCube

Waterfall,1961Lithograph,15x11.8”

PENROSETRIANGLE

Möbius StripII(RedAnts), 1963Woodcut,17.8x8”

Droste EffectExample

EEEKIPINSKI

MOOLABALOOB

Whirlpools,1957WoodEngraving,17.25x9.25”

LaCathédrale Engloutie,1929Woodcut,28.4x16.4”

BondofUnion,1956Lithograph,10x13.25”

Swans,1956WoodEngraving,7.8x12.5”

TheBridge,1930Lithograph,21.1x14.8”