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kottke.org posts about M.C. Escher

Impossible Type

posted by Jason Kottke   Sep 07, 2021

a sample of a typeface with impossible shapes

a sample of a typeface with impossible shapes

From Macedonian designer Fleta Selmani, a typeface called Impossible Type that was inspired by the impossible geometries of M.C. Escher.

See also more typefaces inspired by Escher’s work.

An online collection of high-res scans of M.C. Escher’s prints

posted by Jason Kottke   May 08, 2018

M.C. Escher

M.C. Escher

The Boston Public Library has digitized their collection of M.C. Escher prints; browse the whole collection here. The level of zoom you can get to with these images is amazing.

Traveling to Spain in 1936, Escher visited the Alhambra for the second time and visited the mosque in Córdoba. The renewed exposure to Arabic design occasioned an important change in his work — he became fascinated with geometry and symmetry and how those abstract design elements could be incorporated into his representations of the natural world. The images in his later prints are created from within his mind rather than representations of the physical world. He explored how to represent people, animals, and objects rising from the flat page and then returning, as well as how to represent the endlessness of infinity.

Browsing through these takes me back to my college days. I don’t know what the situation is now, but when I was in school, it was almost a requirement that 50% of the dorm rooms on any given floor had to have an M.C. Escher poster hanging on the wall. (via @john_overholt)

An unusual take on the M.C. Escher cube optical illusion

posted by Jason Kottke   Jul 31, 2017

This impossible M.C. Escher-esque cube broke my brain a little bit. And you might get some ASMR tingles when the cube snaps back into place right at the end. Mmmmmm.