This work contains rings of seahorses that seem to rotate on the page, and butterflies that transform right before your eyes into two warriors with their horses. These dazzling and often playful artistic creations manipulate perspective so cleverly that they simply outwit our brains: we can't just take a quick glance and turn away. From Escher's famous and elaborate "Waterfall" to Shigeo Fukuda's "Mary Poppins," where a heap of bottles, glasses, shakers, and openers somehow turn into the image of a Belle Epoque woman when the spotlight hits them, these works of genius will provide endless enjoyment.

Reviews

If you have patrons interested in "finding stunning flashes of great beauty in the most unexpected of places," this is a book for your collection. Seckel, author of several books on optical illusion, presents the art of several masters who have incorporated tricks for the eye into their work, exploring the juxtaposition of opinion, from math and science types who enjoy the likes of M.C. Escher and his comrades to the artistic types who dislike Escher as art. Artists such as Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Salvador Dali, Sandro Del Prete, Jos De Mey, and Escher are represented in individual chapters enriched with lavish illustrations of optical illusion in art. Reasonably priced, filled with great full-page pictures, and just plain fun to browse, this offbeat title may not be an essential purchase but is nevertheless recommended for libraries specializing in art and related fields, as well as larger public libraries.-Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

"[G]reat full page pictures, and just plain fun to browse." --"Library Journal"
"Children will find pleasure in [this] book, alongside their parents." --"Wall Street Journal "