logologo-optometry

The graphic work introduced and explained by the artist

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Catalogue Number: 1100
The graphic work introduced and explained by the artist
Category: Book
Sub-Category: Hewett collection
Author: ESCHER Maurits Cornelis
Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1992
Time Period: 1940 to 1999
Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Koln. Germany
Publisher/Manufacturer: Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH
Description Of Item: Printed illustrated paperback cover. 76 pages, 11 pages of text with the balance of pages containing Escher's illusory drawings
Historical Significance: Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 - 27 March 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations. Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvard was one of the first to deliberately design many impossible objects. He has been called "the father of impossible figures". See Cat No 2704. In 1934 he drew the Penrose triangle, some years before the Penroses. In Reutersvard's version the sides of the triangle are broken up into cubes. In 1956, British psychiatrist Lionel Penrose and his son, mathematician Roger Penrose, submitted a short article to the British Journal of Psychology titled "Impossible Objects: A Special Type of Visual Illusion". This was illustrated with the Penrose triangle and Penrose stairs. The article referred to Escher, whose work had sparked their interest in the subject, but not Reutersvard, of whom they were unaware. From the 1930s onwards Dutch artist M.C. Escher produced many drawings featuring paradoxes of perspective gradually working towards impossible objects". In 1957 he produced his first drawing containing a true impossible object: Cube with Magic Ribbons. He produced many further drawings featuring impossible objects, sometimes with the entire drawing being an impossible object. Waterfall and Belvedere are good examples of impossible constructions. His work did much to draw the attention of the public to impossible objects
How Acquired: Donated by Barry Cole, honorary life member of the College
Condition: Good
Location: Nathan Library. Hewett collection

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