# ID This artist **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467 "2016-09-09T20:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/1 "2016-09-09T20:45:25Z")
Hopefully someone on the SDope can provide the name of the artist well known for impossible objects, like a castle’s stairs that appear to climb while leading you back around to where you started. I believe the artists did most of his work in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/2 "2016-09-09T20:45:59Z")
Do you mean Escher? [http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160909/c8c34ddb26da01efdbd267e8dfde5520.jpg](http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160909/c8c34ddb26da01efdbd267e8dfde5520.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/3 "2016-09-09T23:07:30Z")
Yes, definitely M. C. Escher. Here’s another famous [example](http://cs.brown.edu/~deus/courses/optical/castle%20stairs.jpg) of the impossible stairs motive. But really, everything by Escher is worth checking out. Here’s another weird, well, [perspective](http://www.brooklynrail.org/article_image/image/16334/Escher,_Belvedere.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/4 "2016-09-09T23:32:48Z")
[Here’s a helpful link for you](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=+artist+well+known+for+impossible+objects%2C+like+a+castle%27s+stairs) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/5 "2016-09-10T00:17:48Z")
Escher died in 1972. There are other “impossible object” artists. See this page: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible\_object](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_object) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/6 "2016-09-10T00:29:57Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Escher died in 1972. > > There are other “impossible object” artists. See this page: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible\_object](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_object) That’s true, but I think that most of his cultural impact happened after his death, so it’s reasonable that many people became accustomed to his work during the seventies. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/7 "2016-09-10T00:30:09Z")
I was working on the possibility that our OP may not have been 100% on the details. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/8 "2016-09-10T01:13:55Z")
I’m not sure if this would work, but if you tilted the steps of each stair so that they were on an angle and each instep was at the same level, could you actually build them to “work”? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/9 "2016-09-10T01:25:49Z")
Escher started coming to popular attention when his art was used as the cover of Mott the Hoople’s [first album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mott_the_Hoople_(album)#/media/File:Mottthehoople1969.jpg) in 1969. The album wasn’t a best seller, but it caught the eye of anyone paging through the record albums. _The Graphic Works of M. C. Escher_ was published in 1967, which introduced people to him, was published in 1967. By the time I was in college in 1970, it was pretty common to see on people’s bookshelves. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/10 "2016-09-10T01:33:14Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Escher started coming to popular attention when his art was used as the cover of Mott the Hoople’s [first album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mott_the_Hoople_(album)#/media/File:Mottthehoople1969.jpg) in 1969. The album wasn’t a best seller, but it caught the eye of anyone paging through the record albums. Hey, wow, I didn’t know that, though I know the drawing. And I heard it was a very good album, too. Unfortunately, it seems out of print even digitally, so to say. ETA: Just saw that it’s in its entirety on youtube. One more for the queue ;-). ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-artist/765467/11 "2016-09-22T20:41:35Z")
Escher must be the winner!