Rauch’s En Masse (Book Acquired, 12.09.2013)

Meandering through the bookstore on a Monday morn, I spied this beat up copy of Hans-Georg Rauch’s En Masse and had to have it.

I’d never heard of Rauch before, but his spidery ink drawings immediately intrigued me.

None of the images in En Masse is labeled—indeed, there are no words in the book.

Instead, Rauch plays with themes of creation and nihilism, sex and politics, architecture and nature.

This two page spread came out blurry via my iPhone pic—sorry—but in the book’s oversize 13″ x 9″ format  the effect is overwhelming.

You can see some of the masses perhaps better in this close-up:

Rauch’s cartoony style is balanced with an Escher-like acumen; the guy can draft. But there’s a sense of humor here that I think puts him closer to Tomi Ungerer.

Lovely stuff.