THE UNIQUE WORLD OF MITSUMASA ANNO: Selected Works (1968-1977)

by Mitsumasa Anno ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 18, 1981

A gallery of visual confoundments for older Anne buffs. Many, he notes in the Postscript, appeared on the cover of the Japanese magazine Mathematical Science--and they are arresting, independently interesting images: a coffeepot, in cross-section, whose handle--into which the coffee also flows--curves around to become a cup (""Patent Pending: An Impossible Approach to a Cup""); or, in four precise, graph-paper drawings, ""A Tadpole is the Great-grandchild of a Wooden Spoon""; or ""A Moonwatch""--in which the face of a pocket-watch alters like the face of the moon in the course of a month. And others, including some of Anne's ""impossible figures,"" that are truly impossible to put into words. With each, there appears a quotation he's selected--Juliet's ""O! Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon. . . ,"" in the case of ""A Moonwatch""--which variously amplify, complement, or shoot off from the pictures. Not that it matters: with Martin Gardner's introductory fanfare, this will delight addicts and maybe even win over some new adherents. There's a cagey mind behind the plays-on-words and the optical illusions: see for instance the earth tilted so that the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands straight up.

Pub Date: Nov. 18, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION