![]() By printing each block three times around a central point, he creates a continuous circle. ![]() Escher uses three wooden blocks, one for each colour. The heads form a triangle with the point down, the bodies a triangle with the point up. ![]() The network of rings is also a ring, and the heads and bodies of the snakes escape from it at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 o’clock. Snakes features three snakes whirling through a network of large and small interlocking rings. The end product has nothing to do with grass, which is why the English name for the print became Snakes. The English name for the Dutch ‘ringslang’ is ‘grass snake’ and not ‘ring snake’. The title is “Ringsnakes”, which does not fit biologically. But he had a problem when it came to the English name, as he noted in a letter to collector Roosevelt: ** The biological subject of the print is the grass snake, a choice that he felt correlated nicely with the final image he wanted to create. He purchased a book on snakes to use as reference material. The development process took a great deal of energy, and he often had to stop work in order to take a break.Įscher created numerous preparatory drawings, showing how he grappled with and relied on the network of rings that both increase and decrease in size. He therefore devoted himself wholeheartedly to this new stream of creativity, despite being afflicted by poor health. In the winter of 1967/1968, he had extended his Metamorphosis II to Metamorphosis III, but the last new print preceding it originated from autumn 1966. In a letter to his son George, he wrote that he was ‘wild with excitement’ about Snakes. It was working on something new that made him especially happy. Escher, Snakes, woodcut in orange, green and black, printed from three blocks, July 1969
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