6
Monday. February 18, 1974
University Daily Kansan
Art Book Expands Mind
Realistic Absurdities Presented
By ALISON GWINN Kansen Reviewer
THE WORLD OF M. C. ESCIER by J.
L. Bocher (Harry N. Arries, Inc.; 1971)
Man, according to M. C. Escher, is incapable of imagining that time could ever stop or that there is an end to space. The other side of his mind is that he main on visualize a space that is empty, but "nothing" in the sense of spaceless beyond his imagination. Thus he develops and adheres to illustrations such as the hereafter that eternally and endlessly unfolds.
As a modern graphic artist, Escher works on the premiere that empirical reality is only possible by realism.
Paperbacks
south Africa is the setting for Helga Moray's "THE SAVAGE EARTH" (Pocket, $1.25). It is part of a trilogy concerning a beautiful Irish woman, Katie Kildare, who has struggled through the wilderness and found love with a dashing Boer leader.
Also not likely to strain your mind too much is Charles Williams' new one, "STAIN OF SUPCIPION" (Pocket, 50 cents). This deals with obscene phone calls, vandalism, the murder of a husband and wife, and seems to seem to want to do anything about it.
And there's Mildred Nelson's "THE ISLAND" (Pocket, 95 cents). This is about a young bride and her botanist husband and all the troubles they have on a tropical island—until she meets a handsome young boatman and finds real love.
Bill Pronini's "PANIC!" (Pocket, 90 cents) is about a man who has run away from wife, home and job, who witnesses a woman being murdered and who has to flee to the desert.
In Rosemary Harris’ “ALL MY ENEMIES” (Pocket, $1.25) we two sisters, long separated, overjoyed at being saved from a plague plagued into a life of terror and violence.
Kathyn Morgan Ryan's "THE BETTY FIRST" (Pocket, $1.50) is a family story, set in a prairie town, dealing with a vicious teenager who holds the secrets of three generations of the family.
We also have a somewhat soapy theme in Miriam Lynch's "HATE THIE NEIGHBOR" (Pocket, 95 cents). This is about a woman named Rita Prince, living in the Bronx. She is known for her marriage, working out a scheme to make her happy neighbors as miserable as she is.
same basis, a different realization might be developed. His prints are always a search for a logical connection between various manifestations of reality.
In Danielle Steel's "GOING HOME" (Pocket, $1.25) we concern ourselves with Gillian Forrester and her big problem: should it be Chris in San Francisco, a somewhat undependable sort, or Gordon in New York, a steadier soul?
"The World of M. C. Escher" provides an extensive collection of Escher's works, primarily in black and white, which are characterized by geological and, essentially, stylistic order.
PREFACING THE PRINTS are five essays, including one by Eicher, which explores the meaning of the English word
review
historical, artistic and scientific points of view. Indicatively, the essays are written not only by art critics, but also by a scientist and a mathematician.
technique and in content. Before 1937, Escher's works are more exercises, dealing with observations of the real world, with observations of the angle of view and various fantasies.
Unlike most artistic collections, Escher's works may be appreciated for much more than their aesthetic properties. Art has traditionally been evaluated by the layman on purely gut reactions — in the feeling that the observer receives from a work.
Escher's prints, however, must necessarily be judged on their technical precision and their ability to represent logical mathematical and scientific principles. Escher obviously uses his intellect in his works, which some critics consider "too much". The many creative innovations created are based on logic and orderly principles that they are so fascinating.
ONE CANNOT MERELY glance through the pages of drawings in this book. They must be studied to be understood and appreciated. What seems in a drawing to be an abstract figure is presented as a logical possibility of Escher's deliberate visual system.
Upon viewing an Escher print, one might be reminded of the grade school project of making moebius strips, in which the final product of intertwined, once-connected circles of paper seems totally illogical at the same time that it is physically feasible.
This illusory effect of the strips is, to Escher, one of the ever-present characteristics of reality. He believes that man, in his empirical existence, is made a fool of by thinking that he can truly represent reality in his artistic creations.
Like most modern artists, Escher sees visual reality as being plural, without unity. Unlike most modern artists, however, Escher depicts this multiplicity of visual phenomena as being rational and orderly rather than chaotic and aband. Heavily influenced by the works of Renaissance mosaics, Escher often works with the constancy of basic geometric figures.
AS ONE PROCEEDS by the section of drawings within the book, he is bound to the author.
Escher always exhibits a strong skill in the use of various media and technique, which is useful for lithographic drawing. However, as progresses, the technique becomes very subordinate to the content of his drawings. This is a means for Escher to present his ideas.
Escher attempts to link different aspects of reality through basically two ideas. He forms a coinciding of spacial perspective through mirror effects and the double use of reflection in his drawings, recognizable figures coincide in patterns, typically of fish swimming one way in a drawing and geese flying the other. With the subtle suggestion of endlessness, the contours of the鱼 and the geese gradually spread about a metamorphosis in their forms.
REALITY AND UNITY are always imprinted in Escher's prints, but one is always aware of their latent impossibility. His assumptions that positive and negative are interchangeable and that infinity is average are interchanged in playful, yet bizarre pictorial forms.
In one print, "Belvedere," a ladder begins inside a building and ends outside the building, but can still be climbed normally. A man and a woman look out of two windows from the other, or the other, but the man is looking away from us and the woman is looking toward us.
In another drawing, "Relativity," a man is descending the same stairway that another man is climbing, yet they are going in the same direction. Both prints are utterly incompressible and extremely fascinating.
NONE NEED not knowledgeable about art to appreciate this book and, ultimately, Escher's works. As complex as they are, their stories become massive and their concepts familiar.
The casual reader can slowly peruse the pictures, discover their eccentricities and chore to himself. The reader who demands that all of the details he can find them in the opening essays.
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