{"id":1130,"date":"2009-05-21T09:35:44","date_gmt":"2009-05-21T01:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2025-09-14T10:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:16:47","slug":"round_trip_2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2009\/05\/21\/round_trip_2009\/","title":{"rendered":"The mag\u00adi\u00adcal \u201cWan\u00adder\u00ading Around\u201d: an unre\u00adpeat\u00adable visu\u00adal game"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>http:\/\/www.hongniba.com.cn\/bookclub\/images\/books\/book_20004188_b.jpg<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n

     
\nA few years ago, when I first read \u201cA Stroll,\u201d I could\u00adn\u2019t help but mar\u00advel at its mag\u00adic. Now, as my expe\u00adri\u00adence in the world of pic\u00adture books grows, this pure black and white pic\u00adture book amazes me even more. Its mag\u00adic is unre\u00adpeat\u00adable, even by the cre\u00adator him\u00adself! 
\n
\n     
\nThe sto\u00adry begins at dawn. The painter dri\u00adves the read\u00ader from the peace\u00adful coun\u00adtry\u00adside, through the woods of the moun\u00adtains, along the coastal high\u00adway, to a large city, where they stop to explore. As the sun sets, they climb the tallest build\u00ading to over\u00adlook the city. At this point, we real\u00adize we\u2019ve reached the end of the book. Does the sto\u00adry end there? The mag\u00adic is just begin\u00adning. When we flip the page 180 degrees, we\u2019re still in the city, but we\u2019ve moved from the fad\u00ading evening to the bright\u00adly lit night. Turn\u00ading the page back again, we\u2019re walk\u00ading from the rooftop to the street, look\u00ading up. Turn\u00ading the page fur\u00adther, we\u2019re actu\u00adal\u00adly walk\u00ading back, final\u00adly return\u00ading to the home we start\u00aded from under the deep moon\u00adlight.
\n 
\n     
\nA paint\u00ading that looks one way when viewed right side up and anoth\u00ader when viewed upside down isn\u2019t unusu\u00adal in itself; many design\u00aders play with this kind of visu\u00adal game. But the fact that it can be strung togeth\u00ader into a sto\u00adry when viewed right side up and upside down, and that it con\u00adnects per\u00adfect\u00adly, turn\u00ading a 36-page sto\u00adry into a 72-page one, is tru\u00adly rare! I can\u2019t think of any\u00adone else who has done this before; the artist Ann Jonas only ever cre\u00adat\u00aded this one.
\n 
\n     
\nAfter the book was pub\u00adlished, some peo\u00adple crit\u00adi\u00adcized its sto\u00adry\u00adline as too thin and arbi\u00adtrary. While this crit\u00adi\u00adcism cer\u00adtain\u00adly makes sense from a lit\u00ader\u00adary per\u00adspec\u00adtive, it\u2019s some\u00adwhat unfair for this type of work. Not all pic\u00adture books have a \u201clit\u00ader\u00adary mis\u00adsion.\u201d Ann Jonas admits that her goal in cre\u00adat\u00ading pic\u00adture books is to \u201cexplore var\u00adi\u00adous ways to expand chil\u00addren\u2019s imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtions.\u201d As a painter and graph\u00adic design\u00ader, she has become increas\u00ading\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00aded in incor\u00adpo\u00adrat\u00ading visu\u00adal play into her pic\u00adture book cre\u00adations. 
\n 
\nhttp:\/\/landaishu.zhongwenlink.com\/home\/upload20083\/200951919635537.jpg<\/a>
\nLet\u2019s go to the movies\u2014\u2014On the way
\n 
\nhttp:\/\/landaishu.zhongwenlink.com\/home\/upload20083\/200951919728212.jpg<\/a>
\nLet\u2019s eat\u2014\u2014On the way back
\n
\n     
\nThe great\u00adest reward of read\u00ading a book like this is the visu\u00adal delight: what you see as twin\u00adkling sky\u00adscrap\u00aders when viewed from the front is a star\u00adlit city sky; what you see as a movie the\u00adater when viewed from the front is a train car or din\u00ading room when viewed from the back; what you see as marsh\u00adland weeds when viewed from the front becomes fire\u00adworks in the sky when viewed from the back\u2026 Per\u00adhaps the most fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading part is the bridge, which, when viewed from the back, is a row of tele\u00adphone poles against a star\u00adry sky! Of course, not every image is so easy to see; I spent a long time try\u00ading to dis\u00adcern the image of the emp\u00adty town trans\u00adformed into a riv\u00ader tun\u00adnel. The key is to focus your eyes on the most sim\u00adi\u00adlar point first. Grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly, the illu\u00adsion will nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly take hold as you get used to it. And when you actu\u00adal\u00adly see it, the feel\u00ading is tru\u00adly mag\u00adi\u00adcal. 
\n
\n     
\nTo some extent, paint\u00ading and design exploit visu\u00adal illu\u00adsions to elic\u00adit cor\u00adre\u00adspond\u00ading psy\u00adcho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal respons\u00ades. How\u00adev\u00ader, the use of these illu\u00adsions isn\u2019t pure\u00adly instinc\u00adtive. While the artist\u2019s cre\u00adative process requires cul\u00adtur\u00adal under\u00adstand\u00ading, skill, and imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion, the read\u00ader\u2019s appre\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion is equal\u00adly cru\u00adcial. Take, for exam\u00adple, the reversed image effect of hous\u00ades and build\u00adings in a book: when the back\u00adground is white and the hous\u00ades are black, it feels like day\u00adtime. Reverse the per\u00adspec\u00adtive, view\u00ading the black hous\u00ades as the back\u00adground and the white areas as the hous\u00ades, and it feels like night\u00adtime. Why is this so? This illu\u00adsion stems from every\u00adday expe\u00adri\u00adence, though we often don\u2019t pay much atten\u00adtion to it. Observe a house under strong day\u00adlight and a build\u00ading illu\u00admi\u00adnat\u00aded at night; the sharp con\u00adtrast cre\u00adates a sil\u00adhou\u00adette. I believe this is a key rea\u00adson why the artist uses only black and white, allow\u00ading black and white to alter\u00adnate between image and blank space. This design con\u00adcept unex\u00adpect\u00aded\u00adly res\u00adonates with the Tai Chi Yin-Yang dia\u00adgram. Let\u2019s bold\u00adly spec\u00adu\u00adlate: if more col\u00adors were used besides black and white, could such a per\u00adfect visu\u00adal effect be achieved? 
\n
\n     
\nI once read about an Amer\u00adi\u00adcan teach\u00ading design that bor\u00adrowed the idea of \u201cA Stroll Around\u201d to teach chil\u00addren a math game: each child was giv\u00aden half a sheet of black paper and half a sheet of white paper. Instead of using a pen\u00adcil, they used scis\u00adsors to cut out black shapes and place them on the white paper, or cut out white shapes and place them on the black paper, com\u00adpar\u00ading the dif\u00adfer\u00adent effects. The theme was called \u201cSpa\u00adtial Rela\u00adtion\u00adships,\u201d and it mir\u00adrors the design idea men\u00adtioned above.
\n 
\nhttp:\/\/landaishu.zhongwenlink.com\/home\/upload20083\/20095191987687.jpg<\/a>
\nCross\u00ading the bridge \u2014 on the way
\n 
\nhttp:\/\/landaishu.zhongwenlink.com\/home\/upload20083\/200951919855333.jpg<\/a>
\nTele\u00adphone Pole \u2014 On the way back
\n
\n     
\n\u201cA Walk Around\u201d is the result of the artist\u2019s long-term accu\u00admu\u00adla\u00adtion and care\u00adful design, and is also the crys\u00adtal\u00adliza\u00adtion of an inspired lov\u00ading fam\u00adi\u00adly. On the title page, the artist ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded the book to \u201cDon Nina
\nSome mis\u00adtak\u00aden\u00adly believe that the paint\u00ading \u201cAmy\u201d refers to a per\u00adson named Don Nina Amy, but it is actu\u00adal\u00adly ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded to the oth\u00ader three mem\u00adbers of her fam\u00adi\u00adly: her hus\u00adband Don\u00adald, her eldest daugh\u00adter Nina, and her sec\u00adond daugh\u00adter Amy. Don\u00adald was already a pic\u00adture book illus\u00adtra\u00adtor with two Calde\u00adcott Hon\u00adors, while Nina lat\u00ader became a renowned pho\u00adtog\u00adra\u00adph\u00ader and pic\u00adture book illus\u00adtra\u00adtor. Ann and Don\u00adald were col\u00adlege class\u00admates, and after grad\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion they worked togeth\u00ader, mar\u00adried, and had a daugh\u00adter. The father began cre\u00adat\u00ading pic\u00adture books when his daugh\u00adter was four years old, clear\u00adly great\u00adly influ\u00adenced by his child. Nina lat\u00ader recalled that she had loved her father\u2019s books since child\u00adhood. The moth\u00ader, on the oth\u00ader hand, orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly focused on art design, not start\u00ading to exper\u00adi\u00adment with pic\u00adture book cre\u00adation until 1982, when she was already in her for\u00adties. It is said that Nina was leav\u00ading home for col\u00adlege, and her moth\u00ader\u2019s unique attach\u00adment to her moth\u00ader evoked child\u00adhood mem\u00ado\u00adries, prompt\u00ading her to draw some\u00adthing for her chil\u00addren. She only had to try it once before she became hooked, and from then on, she could\u00adn\u2019t stop. \u201cA Stroll,\u201d pub\u00adlished in 1983, is her third pic\u00adture book and her most amaz\u00ading. 
\n 
\n\"\u795e\u5947\u7684\u300a\u901b\u4e86\u4e00\u5708\u300b\uff1a\u65e0\u6cd5\u91cd\u590d\u7684\u89c6\u89c9\u6e38\u620f\"<\/a><\/a>
\nThree painters from one fam\u00adi\u00adly: Nina, Don\u00adald, and Ann<\/a>
\n
\n     
\nWe turned to the first page and set off; we turned to the last page, but it wasn\u2019t fin\u00adished, so we turned around and went back; we turned back to the first page and went home. 
\n 
\n   
\nSo, we walked around\u2026
\nhttp:\/\/landaishu.zhongwenlink.com\/home\/upload20083\/200951919928341.jpg<\/a>
\nWatch\u00ading Sea\u00adweed \u2014 On the Way
\nhttp:\/\/landaishu.zhongwenlink.com\/home\/upload20083\/2009519191017499.jpg<\/a>
\nWatch\u00ading the fire\u00adworks \u2014 on the way back<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.hongniba.com.cn\/bookclub\/images\/books\/book_2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,23,12],"tags":[5,6,26,96,147,92],"class_list":["post-1130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-timemachine","category-ajia-review","tag-5","tag-6","tag-26","tag-96","tag-147","tag-92"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5881300ct6a6230202551.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1231,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions\/1231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}