"The Rumor," a lithograph by A. Paul Weber

I've never heard of artist A. Paul Weber until I came across this feverish drawing today called "The Rumor." See it in Gigapan here.

From the Weber Museum:

Weber was born in Arnstadt, Thüringen. In his youth he joined the Jung-Wandervogel, a movement interested in cultivating a better lifestyle and a heightened appreciation of nature through hiking. Weber's love of his native country and his attachment to nature were awakened by hiking through Germany.

In 1928 Weber became a member of a political circle opposing Hitler and National Socialism, which was centred around Ernst Niekisch. Weber illustated books and periodicals for the Widerstands-Verlag (Resistance Press). The journals were banned and Weber was imprisoned by the Nazis from July to December 1937.

After the Second World War he continued to be a social commentator, with his criticism covering politics, justice, militarism, enviromental pollution, inhumanity, medicine and fanaticism in sports. In 1980, Weber died at the age of 87 in Schretstaken, a small village near Ratzeburg, where he had lived since 1936.

My favorite line in his brief bio: "Weber did not draw in an abstact manner. His critique of this type of art and his opinion of narrow-minded experts and museum visitors can be seen in the next room."

A. Paul Weber

(Via Suddenly)

• [swankgd]

  Hmm, did Whedon draw some inspiration from this?!

• [miasm]

  all wagging tongues and peering eyes.
  I’ve previously heard people refer to runaway social processes as ‘behemoths’ but have never been able to find a school of thought that makes use of that particularly nomenclature.
  Perhaps they were just referring to the scope of the particular runaway processes in question but I’ve always imagined something like this and thought it was quite an appropriate monicker.

• [thecleaninglady]

  How… relevant.

• [Kenneth Camargo Jr.]

  Looks like MC Escher meets Harvey Kurtzman…

  • [adonai]

    I’m thinking concept art for Brazil…