M. C. Escher, Periodic Space Filling, Utrecht, 1958:
"...periodic drawings are not merely a nervous tic, a habit, or a hobby. They are not subjective; they are objective. And I cannot accept, with the best will in the world, that something so obvious and ready to hand as the giving of recognizable form, meaning, function, and purpose to figures that fill each other out, should never have come into the head of any other man but me. For once one has crossed over the threshold of the early stages this activity takes on more worth than any other form of decorative art.
Long before I discovered a relationship with regular space division through the Moorish artists of the Alhambra, I had already recognized it in myself. . . later the designing of new motifs gradually came with rather less struggle than in the early days.."
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The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher Bruno Ernst, Taschen (2007); pg. 45.
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| Above images, taken from Alhambra Palace in Spain. |
Perhaps all artists encounter such a thought now and then, I know I have, and in this particular passage from
Escher, I would like to particularly focus on, "...I had already recognized in myself.."
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| both images, by M.C. Escher. |
This seems to be the perfect example of Carl Jung's Collective unconscious at work; a prominent Dutch artist of the 20th century, Escher's unique
Periodic Space Filling method drawn from the same well perhaps. The same well from which Moorish artists who decorated the
Alhambra Palace in the 10th century, 1000 years before Escher was even conceived, and yet, without ever being introduced to these ancient motifs til after his own artistic discovery; Escher was able to produce them on his own in Northern Europe.
We can draw our own conclusions from this, but what's the best way to explain the phenomenon? Where from, how and why does it seem that we all inherit very similar archetypes, and without ever having to see them physically? if so, where are they hidden?
I tend to agree with Jung, in that they are stored in our subconscious, and perhaps a shared subconscious(Collective unconscious), one in which we all draw from the same "well of life"..
