Ascending and Descending《升 與 降》

愛藝

Ascending and Descending is a lithograph print （35.5 cm × 28.5 cm） by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher， first printed in March 1960.

The lithograph depicts a large building roofed by a never-ending staircase. Two lines of identically dressed men appear on the staircase， one line ascending while the other descends. Two figures sit apart from the people on the endless staircase： one in a secluded courtyard， the other on a lower set of stairs. While most two-dimensional artists use relative proportions to create an illusion of depth， Escher here and elsewhere uses conflicting proportions to create the visual paradox.

Ascending and Descending was influenced by， and is an artistic implementation of， the Penrose stairs1， an impossible object; Lionel Penrose had first published his concept in the February 1958 issue of the British Journal of Psychology.

The structure is embedded in human activity. By showing an unaccountable ritual of what Escher calls an “unknown” sect， Escher has added an air of mystery to the people who ascend and descend the stairs. Therefore， the stairs themselves tend to become incorporated into that mysterious appearance.

There are “free” people and Escher said of these： “Recalcitrant individuals refuse， for the time being， to take part in the exercise of treading the stairs. They have no use for it at all， but no doubt， sooner or later they will be brought to see the error of their non-conformity.”

Escher suggests that not only the labours， but the very lives of these monk-like people are carried out in an inescapable， coercive and bizarre environment. Another possible source for the people’s looks is the Dutch idiom “a monk’s job”， which refers to a long and repetitive working activity with absolutely no practical purposes or results， and， by extension， to something completely useless.

《升與降》是荷蘭畫家M.C.埃舍爾創(chuàng)作的一幅平版印刷畫（35.5厘米× 28.5厘米），首印于1960年3月。

此畫描繪了一座大樓，樓頂是一條無限循環(huán)的樓梯。樓梯上有兩隊衣著一樣的男子，一隊上樓，另一隊下樓。這群人在樓梯上循環(huán)上下，還有兩個人待在遠(yuǎn)離他們的地方：一個站在偏僻的院子里，另一個坐在底下的一段樓梯上。大多數(shù)平面畫家都用相對比例來創(chuàng)造深度上的距離錯覺，埃舍爾則用矛盾比例來創(chuàng)造視覺悖論，無論這幅畫還是他的其他作品都是如此。

《升與降》深受一個不可能結(jié)構(gòu)體——彭羅斯階梯——的影響，也是對該結(jié)構(gòu)體的藝術(shù)呈現(xiàn)。萊昂內(nèi)爾·彭羅斯在《英國心理學(xué)雜志》1958年2月號上首次提出了這個概念。

該結(jié)構(gòu)被嵌入人類活動中。通過展示埃舍爾所謂“未知”教派某種難以解釋的儀式，埃舍爾在那些上樓下樓的人身上增添了一層神秘色彩。由此，樓梯本身往往也融入那種神秘的氛圍中。

對于游離在人群外的“自由”民，埃舍爾曾作如是評說：“抗拒的個人會暫時拒絕參與群體爬樓。他們根本不喜歡做這種事，但毫無疑問，他們遲早會認(rèn)識到不合群的錯誤。”

埃舍爾認(rèn)為，對于這些僧侶般的人來說，不僅體力勞動，他們每個人的生活也都處于一個無法逃避、強(qiáng)制且怪異的環(huán)境中。關(guān)于這些人的樣貌，可能還有一種解釋，即源自荷蘭習(xí)語“僧侶的工作”，指漫長的重復(fù)性工作，完全沒有任何實際目的或結(jié)果，進(jìn)而引申指毫無用處的事物。

1彭羅斯階梯，一個著名的幾何學(xué)悖論，指一個始終向上或向下卻走不到頭的階梯，在此階梯上永遠(yuǎn)無法找到最高或最低的一點。這一概念由英國數(shù)學(xué)家羅杰·彭羅斯及其父遺傳學(xué)家萊昂內(nèi)爾·彭羅斯于1958年提出。彭羅斯階梯曾出現(xiàn)在電影《盜夢空間》（Inception）的清醒夢境（lucid dream）中。