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An impossible figure in which a stairway in the shape of a square appears to circulate indefinitely while still
possessing normal steps (Penrose and Penrose 1958). The Dutch artist M. C. Escher
included a Penrose stairway in his mind-bending illustration "Ascending and
Descending" (Bool et al. 1982, p. 321; Forty 2003, Plate 68). Distorted
variations of the stairway are also depicted in Escher's "House of Stairs"
(Bool et al. 1982, p. 301; Forty 2003, Plate 40).
In the 1998 film The Avengers, Uma Thurman is shown walking down a Penrose
stairway and ending up back where she began.
Bool, F. H.; Kist, J. R.; Locher, J. L.; and Wierda, F. M. C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work.
New York: Abrams, 1982.
Escher, M. C. "House of Stairs." Lithograph. 1951. http://www.mcescher.com/Gallery/back-bmp/LW375.jpg.
Escher, M. C. "Ascending and Descending." Lithograph. 1960. http://www.mcescher.com/Gallery/recogn-bmp/LW435.jpg.
Forty, S. M.C. Escher. Cobham, England: TAJ Books, 2003.
Hofstadter, D. R. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. New
York: Vintage Books, p. 15, 1989.
Jablan, S. "Impossible Figures." http://members.tripod.com/~modularity/impos.htm.
Pappas, T. "Optical Illusions and Computer Graphics." The Joy of Mathematics. San Carlos, CA: Wide World Publ./Tetra,
p. 5, 1989.
Penrose, L. S. and Penrose, R. "Impossible Objects: A Special Type of Visual
Illusion." Brit. J. Psychology 49, 31-33, 1958.
Robinson, J. O. and Wilson, J. A. "The Impossible Colonnade and Other Variations of a Well-Known Figure." Brit. J. Psych. 64, 363-365,
1973.
Seckel, A. The Art of Optical Illusions. Carlton Books, p. 21,
2002.
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