Relativity

Relativity (1953) by MC Escher.

Escher’s famous lithograph has a less familiar companion piece in the woodcut below.

Delirius (1972) by Philippe Druillet.

Lone Sloane’s adventure on the pleasure planet of Delirius was written by Jacques Lob, and features this diversion in the Palais d’Escher. Possibly the first fictional use of one of Escher’s prints.

Avon paperback, 1975. No cover artist credited.

House of Stairs is an earlier print but William Sleator’s SF novel from 1974 takes place in another Escher-like world.

Ça, c’est Filarmo, Nic (1983).

A French comic by Hermann and Morphée.

Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986) gets a nod here for being the first feature film to borrow the Escher stairs even if they don’t follow the strict presentation of Relativity. This kind of setting is now almost commonplace in oneiric fantasy and horror films, the most recent example being the distinctly un-oneiric Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).

Commonplace they may be but Escher’s stairs are seldom as carefully rendered as in this scene from I, Roommate (1999), an episode of Futurama. Watch Bender’s accident here.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Escher’s snakes
• The Fantastic World of MC Escher
• MC Escher album covers
• Escher and Schrofer