''Snakes'' is a

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

print by the Dutch artist

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...

. The work was first printed in July 1969, and was Escher's last print before his death. ''Snakes'' depicts a disc made up of interlocking circles that grow progressively smaller towards the center and towards the edge. There are three snakes laced through the edge of the disc. The image is printed in three colours: green, brown and black. The use of snakes and the color palette of this composition recalls an earlier woodcut by the artist, ''Möbius Strip I'' (1960). The print has

rotational symmetry Rotational symmetry, also known as radial symmetry in geometry, is the property a shape (geometry), shape has when it looks the same after some rotation (mathematics), rotation by a partial turn (angle), turn. An object's degree of rotational s ...

of order 3, comprising a single wedge-shaped image repeated three times in a circle. This means that it was printed from three blocks that were rotated on a pin to make three impressions each. Close inspection reveals the central mark left by the pin. In several earlier works Escher explored the limits of infinitesimal size and infinite number, for example the '' Circle Limit'' series, by actually carrying through the rendering of smaller and smaller figures to the smallest possible sizes. By contrast, in ''Snakes'', the infinite diminution of size – and infinite increase in number – is only suggested in the finished work. Nevertheless, the print shows very clearly how this rendering would have been carried out to the limits of human visibility.

References

External links

A 3-dimensional animation based on Escher's printA video of the artist making the print.
1969 paintings Snakes in art Woodcuts Works by M. C. Escher {{printmaking-stub

Further reading

References

External links