Hand With Reflecting Sphere, M. C. Escher (Dutch) b. 1898 , 1935, Lithograph, 31.8x21.3 cm

This artist was born on June 17th, 1898. He was a Dutch graphic artist. Many of his pieces are often mathematically inspired, such as his "Relativity" painted in 1953. His artwork took a different approach than many artists of his day. He beleived that art could also communicate innovational ideas, and much of his did. The piece above is an example of one of his more intrigueing works. he combines a self portrait with the elements of 3-demensionalism. You can see this in the porportions that he uses as his face and other features curve around the reflecting sphere. The line style that he uses is also very important because the small dots make the image appear more detailed and yet at the same time almost "sketchy".

This peice of artwork may have reflected his views on how he thought math could be placed into artwork, because of the porprtions he used. He also could have been trying to communicate a message on a more phsycilogical level such as, we really do live in a small world after all. Our world represented by the reflecting sphere, as if the artist is looking into it himself, contemplating the idea. This theory could also be supported by the fact that the drawing is in black and white, symbolizing symplicity. It also may have just been his artsy, unique way of creating a self portrait without without being like every other artist who has ever painted one.