Six Symmetry Motifs in Red

(B.416) 1957 Woodcut in red from the edition of only 175 examples accompanying Escher’s only book “The Regular Division of the Plane" (Regelmatige Vlakverdeling) (there was also an edition of 175 in black with text verso bound into the book)

This woodcut is considered among the finest of Escher’s medium-format woodcuts, and this is the only time Escher used this extraordinarily dramatic red ink. There are three classic symmetry patterns at the top of the woodcut based on Japanese and Islamic patterns. Below these we see three variations of three kinds of creatures, each on a white background on one side, on a dark background on the other side, and the two combined effortlessly in the center of each band.