RE: https://hachyderm.io/@TheIdOfAlan/115527111496219848
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In short, I think he drew this by carefully observing ants, perhaps with magnification, but not ants of just one kind. Escher liked to draw ants enough he may have done this from memory. She is very mysterious.
Unless someone can point out who she is for me!
Looking at a bunch of Dutch ants I think it's most likely a wood ant, and he's just given her a big wide head because the head is the most fun part of the ant to draw. He's also made her all black rather than hint that she is bicolor... although some black wood ants do exist.
The way he's rendered the geometry of her head is amazing.
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Looking at a bunch of Dutch ants I think it's most likely a wood ant, and he's just given her a big wide head because the head is the most fun part of the ant to draw. He's also made her all black rather than hint that she is bicolor... although some black wood ants do exist.
The way he's rendered the geometry of her head is amazing.
@futurebird
Wild guess: Formica fusca?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grauschwarze_Sklavenameise_Formica_fusca_01_(MK).jpg -
@futurebird
Wild guess: Formica fusca?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grauschwarze_Sklavenameise_Formica_fusca_01_(MK).jpgThis makes sense except for the head.
Consider the carpenter ant queen, the drawing ... and Formica fusca
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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Looking at a bunch of Dutch ants I think it's most likely a wood ant, and he's just given her a big wide head because the head is the most fun part of the ant to draw. He's also made her all black rather than hint that she is bicolor... although some black wood ants do exist.
The way he's rendered the geometry of her head is amazing.
I've found the studies for the final drawing:
In the second one you can see that the gaster is shaded as if it's a darker color than the body, which makes the "red wood ant" theory more likely IMO.
The head is less stylized on the second drawing. I think he just got excited by the geometry of the ant's head and made it strange in a way that made it harder to pinpoint the species in the final drawing.
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I've found the studies for the final drawing:
In the second one you can see that the gaster is shaded as if it's a darker color than the body, which makes the "red wood ant" theory more likely IMO.
The head is less stylized on the second drawing. I think he just got excited by the geometry of the ant's head and made it strange in a way that made it harder to pinpoint the species in the final drawing.
There is so much geometry in the exoskeleton of an ant. You could look at it forever and still not fully understand all of the ways it has been shaped by her purpose.
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There is so much geometry in the exoskeleton of an ant. You could look at it forever and still not fully understand all of the ways it has been shaped by her purpose.
The most famous ants of M. C. Escher, the ones on the Möbius strip, are in my opinion *not* living ants of any species but cute ant robots.
They are highly stylized wile retaining some essential "essence of ant"
(I would also like to point out that NO ONE has made a robot as good as these robot ants in real life. Show me that and I will be impressed forever.)
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The most famous ants of M. C. Escher, the ones on the Möbius strip, are in my opinion *not* living ants of any species but cute ant robots.
They are highly stylized wile retaining some essential "essence of ant"
(I would also like to point out that NO ONE has made a robot as good as these robot ants in real life. Show me that and I will be impressed forever.)
The image you posted seems a preparatory sketch for
Möbius Strip II
Escher made a number of prints based on the concept of the Möbius strip, discovered by the German mathematician and astronomer Ferdinand Möbius (1790-1868). Esc
Museum Escher in The Palace (escherinhetpaleis.nl)
Not sure why you call them robots.
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The image you posted seems a preparatory sketch for
Möbius Strip II
Escher made a number of prints based on the concept of the Möbius strip, discovered by the German mathematician and astronomer Ferdinand Möbius (1790-1868). Esc
Museum Escher in The Palace (escherinhetpaleis.nl)
Not sure why you call them robots.
I just think that like his fish in "depth" they are stylized to look more like a machine.
Depth
Last week I wrote that Escher hasn't been positively regarded by art critics for years. But in the end he himself was his greatest critic. There are certainly e
Museum Escher in The Palace (escherinhetpaleis.nl)
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The most famous ants of M. C. Escher, the ones on the Möbius strip, are in my opinion *not* living ants of any species but cute ant robots.
They are highly stylized wile retaining some essential "essence of ant"
(I would also like to point out that NO ONE has made a robot as good as these robot ants in real life. Show me that and I will be impressed forever.)
@futurebird xscreensaver includes an animated version, somehow I never made the connection that it was an escher reference https://youtu.be/77Nib6jQrXc
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@futurebird xscreensaver includes an animated version, somehow I never made the connection that it was an escher reference https://youtu.be/77Nib6jQrXc
These ants are hilarious. They are so stubby I love it.
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