Hilde Weber

Hilde Weber (September 9, 1913 — December 13, 1994) was a Brazilian artist, cartoonist, and illustrator of German origin. She was the first female cartoonist in the Brazilian press, working for such publications as A Cigarra, O Cruzeiro, Manchete, and Tribuna da Imprensa, where she became known for her political cartoons.

Early life Hilde Weber was born in 1913 in the German town of Waldau. Her parents separated when she was little, and she was raised by friends of the family and by her aunt Claire, who was an artist. Weber studied fine art at the Academy of Visual Arts in Hamburg, perhaps due to the influence of her aunt. She also worked as a teenager as an illustrator for the German newspapers Hamburger Anzeiger and Hamburger Fremdenblatt.

Career in Brazil In 1933, with Hitler's rise to power in Germany, She also worked as an illustrator for the magazines O Cruzeiro and A Cigarra, for which she was the cover artist from 1933 to 1934. Weber also began drawing political cartoons early on, first for the Constitutional Party in its campaign against Getúlio Vargas.

Weber lived in São Paulo from 1943 until 1950, drawing for the newspapers Folha da Manhã and Noite Ilustrada. She participated in the work of the Grupo Santa Helena, a group of artists who would meet at a building known as the Palacete Santa Helena. She worked in painting and ceramics at the Osirarte workshop, alongside such artists as Alfredo Volpi and Mário Zanini. Weber worked for the Tribunal until the newspaper was sold, in 1962. After that, she moved back to São Paulo, where she lived for the remainder of her life. She was hired to work for the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, to which she had contributed since 1956.

She died in 1994, in São Paulo, at age 81.