The Magic Mirror of Escher, by Bruno Ernst

The Magic Mirror of Escher by Bruno Ernst (Taschen)

Anyone who loves mathematics would be fascinated by M.C. Escher's prints. I am drawn to them yet am also disturbed by them -- actually, all surrealist work rattles me. (Even though Escher is not considered a surrealist artist, he has often been linked to surrealists.) I can't imagine having a Magritte or a Dali painting in the house -- not that I can afford one anyway -- because it would bother me instead of giving me pleasure. This is not to say I don't find surrealism interesting. It is indeed. I just don't want that weirdness to be part of my life. I wonder if it's because I haven't enough anger in me. It seems to me that one has to be very angry to be a modern artist. I'm afraid I'm too happy with life.

Anyway, Escher's prints are in fact nothing like the typical modern art rubbish. His pictures were carefully planned, and meticulously executed. There is no vagueness to his message, only boundless imagination. Incidentally, although mathematicians find advanced mathematics embedded everywhere in Escher's work, Escher himself claimed no understanding of mathematics as he had no grasp of abstract concepts unless they were expressed with concrete drawings or objects. The book analyses most of Escher's pictures in detail, which actually took the fun out of one's private enjoyment.

As a side note, the book was published by TASCHEN. I happen to own another TASCHEN book, one on the Flemish painter Jan Vermeer, so it was interesting for me to read the story on the inside of the dusk cover of the Escher book. It was stated there that, "TASCHEN's Great Adventure began back in 1980, when eighteen-year-old Benedikt Taschen opened a shop in his native Cologne, Germany, to market his massive comics collection." More than twenty-five years later, "TASCHEN has grown into one of the most successful and unique publishers in the global market..."