The following illustrations were designed by a famous Dutch graphics artist and mathematician known as Maurits Cornelis Escher. Gestalt psychologists developed a set of principles to explain the perceptual organization, or how smaller objects are grouped to form larger ones. These principles are often referred to as the “laws of perceptual organization.
The Principles of Gestalt law are kept in five different categories which are Similarity, Continuation, Closure, Proximity, Figure and Ground , Reification. Escher has used all of these principles in his art works in a different and shuttle manner.
About the graphics illustrations:
M.C. Escher – Stars, 1948 , (The first picture)
Stars is a wood engraving print created by the Escher in 1948, depicting two chameleons in a polyhedral cage floating through space. The design for Stars was likely influenced by Escher’s own interest in both geometry and astronomy. (wikipedia, 2017)
The amazing piece of art exhibit the principle of continuation and Proximity. As the polyhedral shape has continuous lines or pieces of wood. On the another perspective, the shape is made up of a group of similar shape, Triangles. There are multiple polyhedral shapes representing stars in shape. So, this piece of art also follows the principle of proximity.
M.C. Escher – Day and Night in 1938, (The second picture).
The left side of the painting shows a daytime setting within which a long, winding canal running through a small city is bright white, lit up by the daylight sky. The right side of the painting displays the exact opposite: a night scene of the same angle, wherein the canal and sky are black, including the miniature city. Beginning at the center of the landscape, white birds from the daylight emerge into the fold of the night sky, while the dark birds of night flock to the daytime sky. The whole creates a bewildering pattern of black and white tiles in the center of the image, a composition that delivers a unique positive-negative geometric aspect to Day and Night. (Aarons art prints)
This stimulating, yet fascinating work of art is a masterful demonstration of symmetrical opposites, resulting in an artistic puzzle that captivates the viewer. According to the Gestalt’s law, this artistic piece shows the principle of Similarity as the birds and shape of the tiles are the same. Also the both left and right side of the pictures have similar environment and elements.
Reference:
Wikipedia, Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_(M._C._Escher)[Accessed 26th, April, 2018].
Aaron Art Prints, Available at: http://www.aaronartprints.org/escher-dayandnight.php [Accessed 26th, April, 2018].