Shape and Form MC Escher Art 12 Shape

Shape and Form MC Escher Art 1&2

Shape Form • 2 Dimensional area with a recognizable boundary • 3 Dimensional shape

Figure Ground • Figure is the object • Ground is the background • Sometimes it is hard to distinguish

Positive and Negative Shape Positive Shape • Term used to describe the figure or subject Negative Shape • Term used to describe the background

Organic and Geometric Shapes

Open and Closed Shapes Open Shapes have space around and between them and share some importance with the background Closed shapes and forms seem solid and heavy

How is Shape Used Here? The Old Plum, by Kano Sansetsu Organic or Geometric? Open or Closed? What emotions do the shapes suggest?

Shape Constancy • The tendency to see a shape as unchanging regardless of the angle at which you see it.

How is Shape Used Here? Does the house in this painting seem heavy and closed, or light and open? Why do you think so? House by the Railroad, by Edward Hopper What shapes have changed due to their angle?

Artists Who Utilize Shape M. C. Escher • Accomplished printmaker • Got interested in art in high school • Went to Graphic Arts College

M. C. Escher He is popular for: • Optical Illusions • Mathematics Circle Limit IV, 1960

M. C. Escher Inspiration • Nature • Reality

M. C. Escher Inspiration • Dream Worlds • Impossible Perspective

M. C. Escher Why do you think many people see a connection between his work and mathematics?

M. C. Escher How does this work force the viewer to notice the interaction of figure and ground? What possible meaning does it give this work?

Sketchbook Activity • Choose an arrangement of 2 -3 objects • Draw the outline of the objects enlarged • Fill in the negative shapes with differing patters.