A visualidade no cordel a partir da seca de 1915: um percurso centenário

Abstract

Starting with the assumption that word precedes image, this paper deals with the aesthetics of drought, taking as a theoretical framework the Discursive Semiotics (Greimas). The starting point of the analysis is the booklet “A seca do Ceará” (The drought of Ceara), by Leandro Gomes de Barros. The theme of this poem is the drought tragedy of 1915. The images of this poem translate the religious traditionalism and fatalist. These poetic images are assimilated by the illustrations used on the covers of cordel booklets, especially the woodcut. Only in the 1960s folk woodcut is received in art museums such as the Museum of the Federal University of Ceará. In contemporary productions, traditionalism is in doubt, as the Patativa do Assaré poetry and the woodcuts of Abraão Batista, whose concepts prove the consciousness of the authors about the class struggle.