Post B07VReTUYvQYWHELMu by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) More posts by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #B07NF65XmhhGlRX0a0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-10T23:36:23Z
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RE: https://hachyderm.io/@TheIdOfAlan/115527111496219848This is a great scan of one of my favorite and most vexing M. C. Escher drawings. It's an ant, and she is rendered in excellent detail. So... *who* is she?She must be a Dutch ant. She is black, and her head shape makes me think Camponotus. But her thorax is all wrong for a carpenter. Her throrax is like a wood ant. Her head is too robust for a black garden ant, and her gaster isn't pointed. She has ocelli and the hint of wing buds like a queen.
(DIR) Post #B07NMpt3u8v6pjNolU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-10T23:37:47Z
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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!
(DIR) Post #B07NcFQlDUJuOnUiNU by LGS@friendsofdesoto.social
2025-11-10T23:40:32Z
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@futurebird ah..I am a fan of Escher and it is interesting to learn the background of this work. As always, thanks for your ...antics. ***groan***
(DIR) Post #B07Nd2BtvWY5ctv2WG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-10T23:40:44Z
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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.
(DIR) Post #B07OWbmXInoPw8YRPM by deraffe@chaos.social
2025-11-10T23:50:42Z
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@futurebird Wild guess: Formica fusca?https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grauschwarze_Sklavenameise_Formica_fusca_01_(MK).jpg
(DIR) Post #B07P0lgr1mO9M2HJAm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-10T23:56:12Z
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@deraffe This makes sense except for the head. Consider the carpenter ant queen, the drawing ... and Formica fusca
(DIR) Post #B07PeWnTorLekPKuEC by oldclumsy_nowmad@mastodon.social
2025-11-11T00:03:21Z
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@futurebird You're right! The highlights and shading, and the texturing by pencil(?) strokes in this drawing are masterful. A beautiful work!
(DIR) Post #B07VGuQcuFPSoWleRE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-11T01:06:22Z
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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.
(DIR) Post #B07VReTUYvQYWHELMu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-11T01:08:18Z
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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.
(DIR) Post #B07XNW8XoudTPUaYXQ by tshirtman@mas.to
2025-11-11T01:29:56Z
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@futurebird I had to check but he was indeed back in NL in 1943, but he did live many years in Italy then a bit in Switzerland, before coming back there, so if working from memory, or collected samples, there might be influences from there, too.
(DIR) Post #B07XsBCrgkdHTOELhI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-11T01:35:31Z
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The most famous ants of M. C. Escher, the ones on the Möbius, 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"
(DIR) Post #B07YPVpy0NUX0wPkTg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-11T01:41:30Z
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@glitzersachen I just think that like his fish in "depth" they are stylized to look more like a machine. https://escherinhetpaleis.nl/en/about-escher/escher-today/depth
(DIR) Post #B07YWGbF3XfvmbkPCK by smathermather@mapstodon.space
2025-11-11T01:42:42Z
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@futurebird "shaped by her purpose" is amazing word choice.
(DIR) Post #B07YvI1Qu9CdQyvir2 by fraggle@social.coop
2025-11-11T01:47:12Z
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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
(DIR) Post #B07ZNVeDq2SJnlWtdY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-11T01:52:22Z
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@fraggle These ants are hilarious. They are so stubby I love it.
(DIR) Post #B07b5DonaZBjCUst2u by AquaClaire@ecoevo.social
2025-11-11T02:11:27Z
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@futurebird This whole thread is a delight! & thank you for the pointer to this article - a masterclass on drawing as well as an insight into all the preparation & thinking. #Escher #ant #drawing #depth @glitzersachen
(DIR) Post #B07tKUmSbVgTKKDtdQ by nihongomaamaa@mastodon.ie
2025-11-11T05:35:50Z
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@futurebird That's actually been sitting at the top of my desktop for months now. Not being creepy or anything (not in that sense, anyway), I think I might use this as my background instead. (might need rescaling for 4k tho)Anyway, the screenshot..
(DIR) Post #B080kKjNI5MJMm300O by ngons@mathstodon.xyz
2025-11-11T06:58:55Z
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@futurebird Interesting take, and in the sense that no picture of an ant is an ant, I agree. However, in my mind they are ants, and I think that's also a valid interpretation.
(DIR) Post #B0811rdyAtuaMmsWzg by ngons@mathstodon.xyz
2025-11-11T07:02:10Z
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@futurebird @deraffe That photo is really amazing, I wonder how was taken.
(DIR) Post #B08GsqRoqne3JkusqG by Klassika@mastodon.social
2025-11-11T09:59:48Z
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@futurebird There’s also this sketch:https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/m-c-escher-art-infinity-prints-drawings-sold-benefit-robert-owen/maurits-cornelis-escher-1898-1972-34/263473