M.C. Escher and the History of Tesselations

             Escher was a draftsman, book illustrator, tapestry designer, and muralist, but his primary work was as a printmaker. Born in Leeuwarden, Holland on June 17,1898, the son of a civil engineer, Escher spent most of his childhood in Arnhem. Aspiring to be an architect, Escher enrolled in the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem. While studying there from 1919 to 1922, his study shifted from architecture to drawing and printmaking upon the encouragement of his teacher. In 1924 Escher married Jetta Umiker, and the couple settled in Rome to raise a family. They lived in Italy until 1935, when political turmoil forced them to move to Switzerland and then Belgium. In 1941 German troops occupied Brussels and Escher returned to Baarn, Holland where he lived and worked until his death on March 27, 1972, at the age of 73 years.
             The main subjects of Escher's early art are Rome and the Italian countryside. While living in Italy from 1922 to 1935, he spent spring and summer months traveling and making drawings. Later, Escher developed the drawings into prints.
             After Escher left Italy in 1935, his interest shifted from landscape to something he described as "mental imagery". This was a result of a second visit in 1936 to the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. The tiles of the Moorish architecture suggested flattened patterns and interlocking forms. Starting in the 1920s, the idea of metamorphosis or one shape turning into something different became one of Escher's favorite themes. .
             Artists and designers who have experimented with tessellations have probably unwittingly performed some mathematical research. M. C. Escher stands out as an example of such an artist and designer. Although Escher did not have a strong background in mathematics, his careful explorations of tilings of the plane were extensive and representative of mathematical research. In fact, Escher once said, "Although I am absolute innocent of training or knowledge in the exact sciences, I often seem to have more in common with mathematicians than with my fellow artists" (Escher 9).