We’ve looked at staircases that have featured in films and songs but their most prominent use comes in works of art. Of course there are many staircases around the world that could be classed as works of art themselves, due to their beauty, complexity and in some cases, their sheer audacity, but stairs have long been a focal point for artists all over the world, featuring in paintings and photographs. Here are a few examples of stairs that have featured in the world of art.
Escher
Arguably the most famous exponent of stairs in art works is MC Escher, whose works of impossible reality have adorned bedroom walls of students up and down the land.
The Dutch artist’s work is highlighted by his use of irregular perspectives that would make the structures depicted impossible to build in real life. His most famous example of this is “Ascending and Descending”, which features a seemingly-endless staircase which continues to climb at each of its four 90-degree turns, so anyone who walking up the stairs could keep going forever without ever getting any higher.
The piece was inspired by the Penrose Stairs, an impossible object designed by Lionel and Roger Penrose in 1959 – one of several works of impossibility by the father and son mathematicians.
Stairs feature prominently in a number of other works by Escher, including “House of Stairs”, which features strange, reptile-like creatures crawling up and down numerous staircases that are positioned at a variety of gravity-defying angles, and “Relativity”, which throws the laws of gravity out of the window by having three different gravity sources, while the characters inhabiting the unusual world go about their daily business as normal.
Other notable works of art featuring stairs are
If you want to create your own work of art (and one that is actually possible to walk up and down), UK Stair Parts has a range of quality stair parts at great prices. The range includes treads, risers, spindles and handrails and if you need your stair components quickly, you can take advantage of the next day delivery service.
Written by David Chapman of UK Stair Parts