Ascending and Descending《升 与 降》

爱艺

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.

《升与降》是荷兰画家M.C.埃舍尔创作的一幅平版印刷画（35.5厘米× 28.5厘米），首印于1960年3月。

此畫描绘了一座大楼，楼顶是一条无限循环的楼梯。楼梯上有两队衣着一样的男子，一队上楼，另一队下楼。这群人在楼梯上循环上下，还有两个人待在远离他们的地方：一个站在偏僻的院子里，另一个坐在底下的一段楼梯上。大多数平面画家都用相对比例来创造深度上的距离错觉，埃舍尔则用矛盾比例来创造视觉悖论，无论这幅画还是他的其他作品都是如此。

《升与降》深受一个不可能结构体——彭罗斯阶梯——的影响，也是对该结构体的艺术呈现。莱昂内尔·彭罗斯在《英国心理学杂志》1958年2月号上首次提出了这个概念。

该结构被嵌入人类活动中。通过展示埃舍尔所谓“未知”教派某种难以解释的仪式，埃舍尔在那些上楼下楼的人身上增添了一层神秘色彩。由此，楼梯本身往往也融入那种神秘的氛围中。

对于游离在人群外的“自由”民，埃舍尔曾作如是评说：“抗拒的个人会暂时拒绝参与群体爬楼。他们根本不喜欢做这种事，但毫无疑问，他们迟早会认识到不合群的错误。”

埃舍尔认为，对于这些僧侣般的人来说，不仅体力劳动，他们每个人的生活也都处于一个无法逃避、强制且怪异的环境中。关于这些人的样貌，可能还有一种解释，即源自荷兰习语“僧侣的工作”，指漫长的重复性工作，完全没有任何实际目的或结果，进而引申指毫无用处的事物。

1彭罗斯阶梯，一个著名的几何学悖论，指一个始终向上或向下却走不到头的阶梯，在此阶梯上永远无法找到最高或最低的一点。这一概念由英国数学家罗杰·彭罗斯及其父遗传学家莱昂内尔·彭罗斯于1958年提出。彭罗斯阶梯曾出现在电影《盗梦空间》（Inception）的清醒梦境（lucid dream）中。