Walter Alois Weber (1906 – 1979)

A mammologist by training, and influenced by Allan Brooks’ opaque watercolors, Weber, himself, was an significant inspiration to me, not least for his ability to render with equal ease birds, mammals, herptiles, fish and botanical subjects, and even mention domestic dogs. His work appeared in the National Geographic Magazine from 1939 to 1968, as well as in numerous books. And as it happened, an original painting of his was somehow obtained by someone I knew, showing several species of hare, and as is so often and so normally true, the original is far better than the reproductions I had seen up until then. I proudly own a pristine copy of the February 1950 National Geographic magazine, as well as the August 1956 issue.  The first contains Weber’s incredible renderings of various birds-of-paradise, often in breeding displays that involve their exotic plumage. I was beyond enchanted by them, yes, but alll the more so when the 1956 issue came out with wildlife – birds and mammals – from Africa.  By then I was a young teen and could appreciate the genius of showing birds painted in so many lifelike situations, each painting more riveting than the next. Here were a flock of West African Crowned Cranes flying over a small group of hippos; a Black Kite challenging Marabou storks as they competed to scavenge a very dead Warthog. But best of all were what were paintings of one or two individual bird species, such as the Gray-headed Kingfisher, a pair, one with brilliantly colored wings spread; a trio of turacos amid arboreal foliage, two with wings spread; parakeets amid beautifully rendered mahogany leaves…illustrative, yes, but mesmerizing to me.  Weber’s work would probably not attain the crowd-pleasing status of today’s “wildlife artists” – there is no photo-realism, no dramatic effects, no painting in which the species is plainly, clearly and fully visible and well-illuminated, but for me it was, and is, among the artists who first influenced me, powerfully original and immensely satisfying, and once past his earliest published work, invariably dependable in terms of accurately depicting wildlife.  Indeed, some of his herptile and fish paintings are in some regards among the best I’ve seen in terms of satisfying both my esthetical and my biological, personal criteria.