José Francisco Borges
{{Short description|Brazilian popular artist, cordelist and poet (1935–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
José Francisco Borges (20 December 1935 in Sítio Piroca, in the rural area of Bezerros, Pernambuco – 26 July 2024 in the city of Bezerros), best known as J. Borges,{{Cite web|url=https://agenciagov.ebc.com.br/noticias/202407/a-despedida-de-j-borges-que-fez-das-xilogravuras-cronicas-dos-nordestinos |title= A despedida de J. Borges, que fez das xilogravuras crônicas dos nordestinos |date=26 July 2024|website=Empresa Brasil de Comunicação | first=Pedro | last=Peduzzi | access-date=2024-07-29 | language=pt-BR}} was a Brazilian folk poet and woodcut artist. He was considered the greatest woodcut artist in northeastern Brazil, and "the most celebrated master of the art."{{Cite news |last=Rohter |first=Larry |date=2005-06-14 |title=The Troubadours of Brazil's Backlands |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/books/the-troubadours-of-brazils-backlands.html |access-date=2024-07-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} His work was exhibited around the world, including at the Louvre and the Smithsonian. It is in the permanent collection of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Borges was a proponent of Cordel literature.{{Cite news |last=Rohter |first=Larry |date=2002-03-27 |title=From Brazil's Backlands, a Master of a Folk Tradition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/27/arts/arts-abroad-from-brazil-s-backlands-a-master-of-a-folk-tradition.html |access-date=2024-07-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Life
Borges was born in Bezerros, in the state of Pernambuco, and only attended one year of school, leaving at age 12.{{cite news |date=26 July 2024 |title=Morre J.Borges, mestre da xilogravura nordestina, aos 88 anos |url=https://oglobo.globo.com/cultura/noticia/2024/07/26/morre-jborges-mestre-da-xilogravura-nordestina.ghtml |access-date=26 July 2024 |publisher=O Globo}} As a young man, he worked as a bricklayer, farmhand, herb seller, carpenter and potter. He began selling, and then writing and selling, the leaflets known as "cordel literature," containing epic poems illustrated with woodcut prints in a small format that the sellers would hang on strings, or cordeis. He began to illustrate them with his own woodcuts, eventually producing hundreds of different cordels or folhetos (leaflets, or chapbooks). At his workshop in Bezerros, he mentored other woodcut artists including his brother Amaro, cousin Joel, son Ivan, nephews, and adopted son José Miguel da Silva.
Borges died on 26 July 2024, aged 88, in the house he lived in for his entire life, in Bezerros.
Work
According to Borges, producing a cordel takes two people two days of work.{{Cite book |last=Borges |first=J. |title=J. Borges por J. Borges |date=January 1, 2008 |publisher=UNB |isbn=978-8523008574 |location=Brasilia, Brasil |publication-date=2008 |language=pt, en |trans-title=J. Borges by J. Borges}} By the 1980s, Borges stated that he was selling 500,000 copies of the leaflets each year, although their popularity declined in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, starting in the 1960s, Borges began producing large-format woodcuts as well as smaller cordel illustrations. The large prints, eventually produced in color as well as the traditional black and white, are sold in galleries throughout the world. In addition to traditional scenes of life in the northeast, and folktale illustrations, he responded to the market in producing series including zodiac signs, and fruits of Brazil. His work was exhibited throughout Brazil, as well as in Paris, Zurich, Buenos Aires and in Germany and the United States.{{Cite web |title=Borges Family {{!}} Indigo Arts |url=https://indigoarts.com/artists/borges-family |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=indigoarts.com}}
Borges also produced 135 illustrations for the 1993 book Walking Words by Uruguyan author Eduardo Galeano, and Publishers Weekly called the illustrations "enchanting, folksy woodcuts, mixing childlike wonder and surreal fantasy."{{Cite web |date=May 29, 1995 |title=Walking Words by Eduardo H. Galeano |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780393037821 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}
Honors and Legacy
Borges was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In 2002, he received a UNESCO award, and was chosen to illustrate the United Nations annual calendar. In 2005, he received a Living Heritage award from the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.{{Cite web |date=2010-09-08 |title=Cartilha Patrimônios Vivos by Fundarpe - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/echeverriama/docs/patrimoniosvivos_ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=issuu.com |language=en}} In 2018, the samba school from the neighborhood of Rocinha devoted their Carnival performance in Rio de Janeiro to a tribute to Borges, cordel literature, and the northeast.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leVQqEY1xr0 |title=🦋 Rocinha lança enredo sobre a história da Xilogravura no Brasil para o Carnaval 2018 🦋 |date=2017-07-07 |last=Mais Carnaval |access-date=2024-07-27 |via=YouTube}}
References
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External links
- [https://secure14.inno-tech.com/tesoros/Borges.html Tesoros Trading Company reprint of New York Times article about Jose Borges] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713035437/https://secure14.inno-tech.com/tesoros/Borges.html |date=13 July 2011 }}
- http://www.mariposa-arts.net/GalleryMain.asp?GalleryID=136733&AKey=tjms9e5s
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20131211035032/http://www.braziliangraphicdesign.com/2009/10/30/roots-j-borges-1935/ Roots: J. Borges]}}
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/books/14bard.html The Troubadours of Brazil's Backlands]
- [https://www.diariodepernambuco.com.br/app/noticia/viver/2015/12/06/internas_viver,614502/prestes-a-completar-80-anos-j-borges-abre-as-portas-do-atelie-em-bezerros-para-fazer-balanco-sobre-vida-e-obra.shtml Prestes a completar 80 anos, J. Borges abre as portas do ateliê em Bezerros para fazer balanço sobre vida e obra], with video interview
- [https://collection.internationalfolkart.org/search/Borges Museum of International Folk Art]
- [https://www.rebeccahossack.com/artists/jose-borges/ Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery]
{{Order of Cultural Merit}}
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Category:20th-century Brazilian male writers
Category:21st-century Brazilian male writers
Category:20th-century Brazilian poets
Category:21st-century Brazilian poets
Category:Brazilian printmakers
Category:People from Pernambuco
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