The Ant-on-Bruckner Graphic

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I have always been amused by this graphic ever since I first saw it in Renata Grasberger's Bruckner Ikonographie book, but I could never quite understand the motive for such a drawing.

Now, a recent Ebay purchase has provided me with the answer. The drawing by John Furnival was created for a postcard put out by the Jargon Society in Cambria England. The card was number 17 in a series and the back of the card has the following poem by Jonathan Williams:

It finally dawns
On Herr Doctor Professor Bruckner
That he be more likely
To find affection for his work
From his small friend
From the formicary near St. Florian
Than from the fancy-cafe caters of Wien
And the wise-guy criticasters.
Fool-hearty sublimity was never
The name of the game....


The card was issued on Bruckner's birthday - September 4, 1980.