Stylogenyin the style of Literatura de Cordel Woodcut

Traditions & vernacular · 1940–present · Latin America & Caribbean

Literatura de Cordel Woodcut

Also known as Xilogravura de cordel, Xilogravura popular nordestina, Folheto covers

The cover art of Brazil's literatura de cordel, pocket chapbooks of verse whose single picture is a small woodcut cut in soft umburana wood and printed in black above a plain letterpress title. Woodcuts displaced worn zinc clichés of film-star photographs from the 1940s, led by José Bernardo da Silva's Tipografia São Francisco in Juazeiro do Norte. From the 1960s collectors and galleries turned the blocks into standalone prints by masters such as J. Borges.

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A black woodcut-style illustration on cream paper shows a singing bird in a leafy tree with a heart on its trunk, a seated person in a brimmed hat, and a dog looking upward. Cacti, hills, a small house, and a sun fill the background beneath the title, with a triangular border and star motifs framing the cover.
AI-generated by Stylogeny from the style’s design choices. Not a real or historical work.

01

How it works

  • Give a folded pocket chapbook one small woodcut on its cover, and let that picture retell the poem's story at a glance.
  • Cut solid blacks and broad gouged white lines; show figures frontally or in strict profile, with no perspective or modelling.
  • Print in black only on cheap paper, under a plain letterpress title and the poet's name, with no display-type shouting.
  • Cut borders, ground lines and hatching into the block itself instead of adding typographic ornament.
  • Cast the scene from the sertão and its tales (cangaceiros, saints, the devil, cowboys, princesses, fantastic beasts) and draw them with caricatural directness.
  • When the block leaves the folheto, enlarge it and add flat colour for a standalone print.

Brazilian Northeast: Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará (Tipografia São Francisco, later Lira Nordestina); Recife, Caruaru and Bezerros, Pernambuco; Paraíba

02

Its design choices

From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

Layout & composition
Space & hierarchy
Typography
Colour
Form & shape
Surface & texture
Ornament
Imagery
Medium & production
Tone & intent
Avoids
Naturalistic depiction, Illusion of depth, Eclectic mixing, Straight photography, Gradients, Gloss & highlights, Collage & layering

Palette

  • #141414
  • #ece4cf
  • #e8c95a
  • #d98a9e
  • #7fae8a
  • #b33a2e

Typefaces

  • Jobbing letterpress types from the print shop's case, for titles and verse

  • Lettering carved into the woodblock

    J. Borges's titled prints

  • Typographic vignettes and fleurons framing early folheto covers

Known for

  • J. Borges (José Francisco Borges, 1935–2024), poet and woodcutter of Bezerros, Pernambuco

  • Mestre Dila (José Soares da Silva), Caruaru, who cut the cover of J. Borges's first folheto

  • José Costa Leite

    poet and woodcutter

  • Tipografia São Francisco, Juazeiro do Norte

    José Bernardo da Silva; later Lira Nordestina

  • Walderêdo Gonçalves and Mestre Noza (Inocêncio da Costa Nick), early Juazeiro woodcutters

  • Stênio Diniz and Abraão Batista

    Lira Nordestina

03

Make something in this style

Say what you need, and Stylogeny’s image studio draws it from Literatura de Cordel Woodcut’s design choices and checks it against them. It takes about a minute, and you get a link to share.

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04

Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

Before it

The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.

This styleLiteratura de Cordel Woodcut1940–present · Latin America & Caribbean

After it

The styles that grew out of it.

No later style in the atlas grew out of it yet.

Alike in its design choices

Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.

05

Real works

Artefacts in museums, libraries and archives that show the style, linked at their source.

  • Domiciano e Rosete ou o viajante da sorteJosé Francisco Borges (J. Borges) · undated (before 1993; acquired by the museum in 1993) · Museo de América, Madrid (1993/03/176), via CER.ES
  • Canudos revisitadaMestre Dila (José Soares da Silva), woodcut signed 'DILA' · 1981 · Museo de América, Madrid (1993/03/175), via CER.ES
  • A moda e a juventude ou descrição do presenteApolônio Alves dos Santos (poet and 'autor proprietário'); woodcutter unrecorded · undated (before 1993; acquired by the museum in 1993) · Museo de América, Madrid (1993/03/173), via CER.ES
  • A chegada de Lampião no infernoJosé Pacheco (poet); woodcutter unrecorded · undated edition (mid-20th century, estimated) · Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro (cover scan via Wikimedia Commons)

06

Sources

  1. https://www.brasilsolidario.org.br/wp-content/uploads/Fasciculo-4_xilogravura.pdf
  2. https://revistas.urca.br/index.php/rcn/article/download/361/241/1251 (on Tipografia São Francisco, umburana wood and the 1949 shift to woodcut covers)
  3. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Borges
  4. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literatura_de_cordel

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