--- title: "J. Borges: how woodcuts tell stories" description: "How J. Borges's woodcuts tell stories: their roots in cordel poetry, the move from woodblock to paper, and animals and people in three prints." canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/j-borges-woodcuts/ lang: en license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ translations: en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/articles/j-borges-woodcuts/ fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/articles/j-borges-gravures-sur-bois/ pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/artigos/j-borges-xilogravura/ --- Art and artists # J. Borges: how woodcuts tell stories How J. Borges's woodcuts tell stories: their roots in cordel poetry, the move from woodblock to paper, and animals and people in three prints. A jaguar raises its paws against a snake that winds around its body. A devil drives a cart with an enormous wheel. A man carries firewood while three people ride the same animal. In the woodcuts of J. Borges (1935–2024), the story begins with the encounter between figures: who attacks, who travels on, who has to work.[^sesc][^ufpb][^charrete][^vida] The artist from Bezerros, Pernambuco, wrote and sold cordel pamphlets before making his own images. On pamphlet covers and in separate prints, the title helps us recognise the action. Comparing a woodblock with its print helps explain how he built these narratives.[^sesc] ## Cordel before woodcuts In 1956, J. Borges bought pamphlets in Recife to resell at markets. Selling them preceded the publication of his own verses: *O encontro de dois vaqueiros no sertão de Petrolina* (The meeting of two cowboys in the backlands of Petrolina), from 1964, had a cover illustrated by Dila. For the next pamphlet, *O verdadeiro aviso de Frei Damião sobre os castigos que vêm* (Friar Damião’s true warning about the punishments to come), Borges made a woodcut of the church in Bezerros. He then began illustrating his own texts.[^sesc] The story could also be heard. In the catalogue *Impressões dos Borges*, Marcelo Mac Cord records a recollection by J. Miguel, Borges’s stepson and apprentice: at markets, his father would recite the cordel and stop just before the ending. Curiosity about the conclusion helped sell the pamphlet.[^feira] A separate print changes the way a story is read. The viewer has a scene and its title, without the pages of verse that might develop the action. The relationships between bodies, the direction of gestures and the elements of the setting carry much of the story. ## What stays on the wood, what appears on paper A woodcut is a relief print. Ink covers the raised parts of the wooden block; paper picks up that ink when pressed against them. The areas cut away leave no impression. In the account of his working process published by the Museu de Arte do Rio, Borges draws directly on the wood and carves away the background around the figures.[^mar] Among the printmakers of Bezerros, Mac Cord documented drawings made on paper and transferred to wood. After inking the block with a roller, they pressed the paper with a small cart and finished the impression with a wooden spoon.[^tecnica] ![On the left, a wooden block has a jaguar and snake in relief and a reversed inscription; on the right, the print shows the figures facing the opposite direction, with a red and blue snake on white paper.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/j-borges/briga-matriz-impressao-640.jpg) *Briga da onça com a serpente (Fight between the jaguar and the snake), date not given in the source. Woodblock on the left and print on the right. J. Borges. Reproduction: Arte Popular do Brasil, reproduced by Selma Machado Simão in 2020. Photographer and collection not identified in the caption. [Comparison published in Art&Sensorium, p. 184](https://periodicos.unespar.edu.br/sensorium/article/download/3484/pdf_12/9492).* The title at the bottom offers the simplest test: the reversed letters on the block become legible on paper. The snake also changes sides. On the wood, the background has colour and grain; in the print, the white paper separates the animals. The small cuts marking the jaguar’s spots appear light within its black silhouette.[^matriz] The coloured block retains the distinction between its inked relief and the carved-out areas. Writing in 2009, Mac Cord records that Borges began adding colour to blocks to make multicoloured prints at the request of women who bought his work.[^cor] ## Briga da onça com a serpente, 1988 ![An upright black jaguar with white spots and an open mouth faces a blue snake with red markings that coils around it; birds and a small figure fill the spaces at the sides.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/j-borges/briga-onca-serpente-1988-640.jpg) *Briga da onça com a serpente (Fight between the jaguar and the snake), 1988. Woodcut. J. Borges. Pinacoteca UFPB Collection. Gift of Humberto Peixoto. Photographer not identified in the record. [Record at Pinacoteca UFPB](https://www.ufpb.br/pinacoteca/doacoes/nova-doacao-j-borges/).* The print at Pinacoteca UFPB, identified as a work from 1988, uses a different distribution of colours for this confrontation. The snake’s blue body crosses the sheet in broad curves; inside it, red shapes repeat almost to the tail. The jaguar stands on its hind legs and rests its front paws against the other animal’s head.[^ufpb] Their open mouths bring the two faces close together, but the snake’s body extends the scene through almost the entire height of the print. Small birds fill the spaces at the sides. On the right, a long-haired figure raises an arm, feet apart, as though taking part in the struggle. The white space has a precise role: it keeps the outlines separate, even where the bodies cross. Inside them, light strokes and spots distinguish teeth, scales and fur. From a distance we see the fight; up close we can follow the work of the cutting tools. ## A charrete do diabo, 1974 ![A devil with horns and a tail drives a horse-drawn cart; he holds a raised whip, and a large wheel fills the left side of the black-and-white print.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/j-borges/charrete-diabo-1280.jpg) *A charrete do diabo (The devil’s cart), 1974. Woodcut on paper, impression 498/500 from the portfolio Doze gravadores populares do Nordeste (Twelve folk printmakers from the Northeast). Mount window: 22.5 × 32 cm. J. Borges. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, DO04000-006. On indefinite loan from Fundación Museo Reina Sofía, 2022. Photographer not identified in the collection record. [Collection record at Museo Reina Sofía](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/colecciones/obra/charrete-do-diabo-la-calesa-del-diablo/).* Here, the scene consists of a few large elements. The wheel is almost as tall as the seated devil’s body. The horse moves to the right with one front leg raised; above it, the whip forms a long curve. The arrow-tipped tail rises along the left edge.[^charrete] The direction of travel is clear, although there is hardly any road. A black band at the bottom supports the wheel and hooves and contains the title. Above this line, the drawing brings body, vehicle and animal together in a horizontal sequence. The horns and tail are enough to give the driver his role in the story. Black ink covers broad areas. Inside the wheel, the spokes are thin white lines; on the horse, shorter cuts mark the mane. The contrast between these few marks and the solid silhouettes makes the drawing legible without filling the background. The Reina Sofía impression belongs to a collective portfolio by printmakers from the Northeast. This form of circulation places Borges alongside other artists and allows us to encounter the print as a sheet from an edition, as well as on cordel covers.[^charrete] ## A vida em Pernambuco, 2022 ![Beneath leafless branches, a rider follows an ox; below, a man carries a bundle of firewood and three people ride a donkey together. The entire scene is printed in black on white paper.](https://chicodasilva.org/editorial/j-borges/vida-pernambuco-640.jpg) *A vida em Pernambuco (Life in Pernambuco), 2022. Woodcut on paper, 66 × 48 cm, impression 3/30. J. Borges. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, DO04173. On indefinite loan from Fundación Museo Reina Sofía, 2024, gift of Gabriel Calparsoro. Photographer not identified in the collection record. [Collection record at Museo Reina Sofía](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/colecciones/obra/vida-em-pernambuco-la-vida-en-pernambuco/).* Decades after the cart, Borges again arranged people and animals across a black-and-white sheet. In *A vida em Pernambuco*, the rider at the top follows an ox moving to the right. Below, three travellers share a donkey. The man on the left carries a bundle of firewood so long that it almost reaches the ox.[^vida] The figures fit around one another without becoming smaller as they would in a landscape seen from a distance. The ox passes above the travellers’ heads; the firewood rises through the gap between the horse and the edge. Leafless branches fill the top, while small birds occupy some empty spaces. There are several actions, but no frame separates one from another. The eye can begin with the load of firewood, follow the donkey and move up to the rider. The title gives all these scenes a shared location: Pernambuco. The narrative takes shape through the proximity of tasks and journeys. ## From markets to collections Circulation as separate sheets, portfolios and objects expanded the places where these images could be found. Mac Cord documented their screenprinted use on shirts, tiles and boxes.[^cor] In collections, each impression acquires its own history. *A charrete do diabo* has an edition number and belongs to a portfolio from 1974. The fight print was donated to Pinacoteca UFPB; *A vida em Pernambuco* reached the Reina Sofía through a separate loan in 2024. The collection records trace these journeys while keeping the differences between the sheets in view.[^charrete][^ufpb][^vida] To continue looking, the [Reina Sofía’s J. Borges catalogue](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/colecciones/artista/j-borges-borges-jose-francisco/) brings together other prints. The [CNFCP catalogue](https://antigo.cnfcp.gov.br/pdf/CatalogoSAP/CNFCP_sap154.pdf) enters the workshops of Bezerros and follows artists from the family in their ways of drawing, printing and selling. [^sesc]: Manuela Ferreira. [“J. Borges: master of wood”](https://www.sescsp.org.br/editorial/j-borges-mestre-da-madeira/). Revista E, Sesc São Paulo, 2 January 2025, sections “Chão nordestino” (Northeastern ground) and “Entalhar a vida” (Carving life). [^ufpb]: Pinacoteca UFPB. [“New donation: J. Borges”](https://www.ufpb.br/pinacoteca/doacoes/nova-doacao-j-borges/), 4 February 2025. Record for *Briga da onça com a serpente*, 1988, gift of Humberto Peixoto. [^charrete]: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. [*A charrete do diabo*, 1974](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/colecciones/obra/charrete-do-diabo-la-calesa-del-diablo/), DO04000-006. Collection record and reproduction, with edition, dimensions and acquisition history. [^vida]: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. [*A vida em Pernambuco*, 2022](https://www.museoreinasofia.es/colecciones/obra/vida-em-pernambuco-la-vida-en-pernambuco/), DO04173. Collection record and reproduction, impression 3/30. [^feira]: Marcelo Mac Cord. [*Impressões dos Borges: a xilogravura de Bezerros*](https://antigo.cnfcp.gov.br/pdf/CatalogoSAP/CNFCP_sap154.pdf). Rio de Janeiro: Iphan, CNFCP, 2009, Sala do Artista Popular, no. 154, p. 21, section “A vida e arte de alguns filhos de J. Borges” (The life and art of some of J. Borges’s children). [^mar]: Museu de Arte do Rio. [“Museu de Arte do Rio opens J. Borges: the master of woodcuts”](https://museudeartedorio.org.br/noticias/museu-de-arte-do-rio-inaugura-exposicao-j-borges-o-mestre-da-xilogravura/), description of drawing and carving the block. [^tecnica]: Mac Cord. [*Impressões dos Borges*](https://antigo.cnfcp.gov.br/pdf/CatalogoSAP/CNFCP_sap154.pdf), 2009, p. 11, section “As primeiras impressões do campo” (First impressions from the field). [^matriz]: Selma Machado Simão. [“The circulation of folk art’s visual production in Brazil’s contemporary art scene”](https://periodicos.unespar.edu.br/sensorium/article/download/3484/pdf_12/9492). Art&Sensorium, vol. 7, no. 1, 2020, p. 184, figure 1. The caption identifies the woodblock on the left and the print on the right and gives the source of the reproduction. [^cor]: Mac Cord. [*Impressões dos Borges*](https://antigo.cnfcp.gov.br/pdf/CatalogoSAP/CNFCP_sap154.pdf), 2009, p. 20: coloured blocks and circulation on other supports.