Mysterious Pictures

When we went to the Anno exhibition in London a few weeks ago, I was disappointed to find that there were very few books for sale and then I realised that most of his books, especially those in English, are out of print. I did manage to buy one book though and, although it is a Japanese edition, that doesn't matter as there is no text, just pictures and the ladies at Japan House translated the title for me.

The book was Anno's very first picture book, published in 1968 - Mysterious Pictures. Anno had always been fascinated by distortion and played with mirrors and lens from an early age. He was inspired by Escher's works to create his own world where fantasy becomes reality, a world which is distorted, reflected or turned upside down. These topsy-turvy illustrations are good for pondering on, as our granddaughter did last week. This is one spread from the book, where the architect is wondering how his plans went wrong.