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M. C. Escher

M. C. Escher Biography

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“There is something in such laws that takes the breath away. They are not discoveries or inventions of the human mind, but exist independently of us. In a moment of clarity, one can at most discover that they are there and take them into account. Long before there were people on the earth, crystals were already growing in the earth's crust. On one day or another, a human being first came across such a sparkling morsel of regularity lying on the ground or hit one with his stone tool and it broke off and fell at his feet, and he picked it up and regarded it in his open hand, and he was amazed.”

PeopleMindFirstsHumansLongMomentsHandsEarthSpiritualLawLyingHuman BeingsGrowingFeetOne DayDiscoveryToolsStonesAccountsBreathsInventionClarityBrokeHuman MindAmazedCrystalsSparklingRegularityMoments Of Clarity
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“By keenly confronting the enigmas that surround us, and by considering and analyzing the observations that I had made, I ended up in the domain of mathematics. Although I am absolutely without training in the exact sciences, I often seem to have more in common with mathematicians than with my fellow artists.”

MadeSeemsArtistCommonTeachingTrainingMathematicsFellowsMathObservationSurroundConsideringMathematicianDomainConfrontingAnalyzingEnigmaExact Sciences
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“I try in my prints to testify that we live in a beautiful and orderly world, not in a chaos without norms, even though that is how it sometimes appears. My subjects are also often playful: I cannot refrain from demonstrating the nonsensicalness of some of what we take to be irrefutable certainties. It is, for example, a pleasure to deliberately mix together objects of two and three dimensions, surface and spatial relationships, and to make fun of gravity.”

WorldTryingTwoSometimesTogetherBeautifulThreeFunPleasureSubjectsExampleObjectsChaosSurfaceCertaintyDimensionsPrintGravityNormRefrainOrderlyDemonstratingSpatialThree Dimensions
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“To tell you the truth, I am rather perplexed by the concept of 'art'. What one person considers to be 'art' is often not 'art' to another. 'Beautiful' and 'ugly' are old-fashioned concepts that are seldom applied these days; perhaps justifiably, who knows? Something repulsive, which gives you a moral hangover, and hurts your ears or eyes, may well be art. Only 'kitsch' is not art - we're all agreed about that. Indeed, but what is 'kitsch'? If only I knew!”

IfsKnowsGivingWellsMayPersonsArtEyeBeautifulHurtMoralArt IsConceptsEarsUglyThese DaysOld FashionedHangoverKitschPerplexed
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“Although I am even now still a layman in the area of mathematics, and although I lack theoretical knowledge, the mathematicians, and in particular the crystallographers, have had considerable influence on my work of the last twenty years. The laws of the phenomena around us--order, regularity, cyclical repetition, and renewals--have assumed greater and greater importance for me. The awareness of their presence gives me peace and provides me with support. I try in my prints to testify that we live in a beautiful and orderly world, and not in a formless chaos, as it sometimes seems.”

WorldGivingTryingYearsStillsSometimesSeemsLastsBeautifulLawOrderSupportGreaterInfluenceAwarenessParticularAreasImportanceGive MeTwentiesMathematicsChaosPrintMathematicianRepetitionRenewalTheoreticalOrderlyRegularityLayman
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“The regular division of the plane into congruent figures evoking an association in the observer with a familiar natural object is one of these hobbies or problems...I have embarked on this geometric problem again and again over the years, trying to throw light on different aspects each time. I cannot imagine what my life would be like if this problem had never occurred to me; one might say that I am head over heels in love with it, and I still don't know why.”

IfsKnowsTryingYearsStillsDifferentProblemLightMightWould BeNaturalImagineFiguresObjectsAspectFamiliarPlanesDivisionAssociationHeelsAgain And AgainHobbiesObserversGeometricHead Over Heels
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“It has always irked me as improper that there are still so many people for whom the sky is no more than a mass of random points of light. I do not see why we should recognize a house, a tree, or a flower here below and not, for example, the red Arcturus up there in the heavens as it hangs from its constellation Bootes, like a basket hanging from a balloon.”

PeopleShouldStillsLightHouseHeavenSpaceTreeSkyExampleFlowerMassRedBasketsConstellationsBalloonsStar GazingPoints Of Light
Author:M. C. Escher
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