This is some of the information I found on M.C. Escher

Ascending and Descending

Who is the artist?

M.C. Escher

What do I know about him?

Many of his pieces are centered on often-impossible structures. He was in some sort of architecture school. He was born in 1898 in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands and died in 1972in Laren in the Netherlands.

In what time culture and place was the piece created?

It was drawn in March of 1960.

What are some important things to know about the time, culture and place?

Is the piece of art part of an artistic movement?

M.C. Escher stated in an interview that he had no interest in being a part of an art movement stating, “I do my art because I think it is beautiful. That is what I think art should be, a thing of beauty.”

If so, what are some basic facts about the artistic movement?

Although Escher does not conform to an artistic movement he discussed 4 main influences in his artwork. He liked to create three dimensional images, images that cannot exist, transformations in reality and images based on regular divisions of the plane.

If so, how does your piece fit into it?

In Ascending and Descending, Escher used three dimensional images, and images which cannot exist to create the illusion of the stairs and the detail of the monastery.

Find two other pieces of this movement to compare and contrast to your piece.

Escher’s piece metamorphosis is an example of how he used transformation of reality. Cubic space division is an example of his use of tessellation, or regular division of the plane.