Editing M. C. Escher (section)

=== Platonic and other solids ===
[[File:Universiteit Twente Mesa Plus Escher Object.jpg|thumb|left|Sculpture of a [[small stellated dodecahedron]], as in Escher's 1952 work ''[[Gravitation (M. C. Escher)|Gravitation]]'' ([[University of Twente]])]]

Escher often incorporated three-dimensional objects such as the [[Platonic solid]]s such as spheres, tetrahedrons, and cubes into his works, as well as mathematical objects such as [[cylinder (geometry)|cylinders]] and [[Stellation|stellated polyhedra]]. In the print [[Reptiles (M. C. Escher)|''Reptiles'']], he combined two- and three-dimensional images. In one of his papers, Escher emphasized the importance of dimensionality:

{{blockquote|The flat shape irritates me — I feel like telling my objects, you are too fictitious, lying there next to each other static and frozen: {{em|do}} something, come off the paper and show me what you are capable of!&nbsp;... So I make them come out of the plane.&nbsp;... My objects&nbsp;... may finally return to the plane and disappear into their place of origin.<ref name=OutOfPlane>{{cite book |last1=Emmer |first1=Michele |last2=Schattschneider |first2=Doris |title=M.C. Escher's Legacy: A Centennial Celebration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DDyBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |year=2007 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-28849-7 |pages=182–183}}</ref>}}

Escher's artwork is especially well-liked by mathematicians such as [[Doris Schattschneider]] and scientists such as [[Roger Penrose]], who enjoy his use of [[Polyhedron|polyhedra]] and [[geometry|geometric]] distortions.<ref name=MathSide>{{cite journal |last1=Schattschneider |first1=Doris| volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=706–718 |journal=Notices of the AMS |title=The Mathematical Side of M. C. Escher |url=https://www.ams.org/notices/201006/rtx100600706p.pdf |date=2010}}</ref> For example, in ''[[Gravitation (M. C. Escher)|Gravitation]]'', animals climb around a [[stellation|stellated]] [[dodecahedron]].<ref name="Hargittai2014">{{cite book |last=Hargittai |first=István |title=Symmetry: Unifying Human Understanding |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vXTiBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 |date=23 May 2014 |publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-1-4831-4952-3 |page=128}}</ref>

The two towers of ''Waterfall''{{'s}} impossible building are topped with compound polyhedra, one a [[compound of three cubes]], the other a stellated [[rhombic dodecahedron]] now known as [[Compound of three octahedra|Escher's solid]]. Escher had used this solid in his 1948 woodcut ''[[Stars (M. C. Escher)|Stars]]'', which contains all five of the [[Platonic solid]]s and various stellated solids, representing stars; the central solid is animated by [[chameleon]]s climbing through the frame as it whirls in space. Escher possessed a 6&nbsp;cm [[refracting telescope]] and was a keen-enough amateur [[astronomer]] to have recorded observations of [[binary star]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Locher|1971|p=104}}</ref><ref name=Beech>{{cite journal |title=Escher's ''Stars'' |last=Beech |first=Martin |journal=Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada |year=1992 |volume=86 |pages=169–177|bibcode=1992JRASC..86..169B }}</ref><ref name=CoxeterReview>{{cite journal |last=Coxeter |first=H. S. M. |author-link=Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter |doi=10.1007/BF03023010 |issue=1 | journal=The Mathematical Intelligencer |pages=59–69 |title=A special book review: M. C. Escher: His life and complete graphic work |volume=7 |year=1985|s2cid=189887063 }}</ref>