Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen

A Colourful Palette
Contemporary Children‘s Book Illustration in Brazil
by Claudia Mendes

Introduction Folk culture is a strong inspiration for Brazilian

As one of the developing economies that form
the BRICS countries1, Brazil is more visible than
ever on the international scene. Its 8.515.767 km2
territory occupies almost half of the South Ameri-
can continent and contains roughly 198 million
people. In addition to big cities, in which most of
the industries’ income and cultural production
are concentrated, there are many towns, villages,
or rural areas where the population live in poor
conditions. Due to such intense socio-economical
contrasts, the country used to be ironically called
”Belindia” – a blend of Belgium and India. These
contrasts nevertheless serve as a fertile ground for
cultural manifestations.
illustrators. Portraying local content in children’s
books is quite a recent feature, however, dating
back to the early 1900s. Picturebooks in Brazil
have followed the same evolution as other cultu-
ral products: Starting from European models, a
local language has been progressively developed
that makes use of native elements such as fauna,
flora, geography, light, and colour, as well as
ethnicity, architecture, clothing, folklore, oral
narratives, games, and festivals.
Ziraldo: “A turma do Pererê“ (comic stories, originally
published in 1960).

The rich and diverse mixture, typical of Brazilian

culture, can also be seen in the content and the
form of the country’s contemporary children’s
books illustrations. To build their innovative visu-
al narratives, Brazilian artists use many different
techniques and styles, combining traditional ones
such as oil painting, watercolours, and acrylics,
with computer art, photos, paper cuts, or natural
materials.

The roots of this Brazilian mixture can be partly

explained by the country’s cultural inheritance,
because it is known as a melting pot of ethnici-
ties – Portuguese colonisers followed by other
European immigrants, descendants of African
slaves, and Indigenous peoples of Brazil. For
example, a popular character of Brazilian mytho-
logy who now belongs to children’s culture is the
Saci-pererê. Known as the Brazilian gnome, he is
a one-legged black boy (African influence) who
wears a red hat (Portuguese), smokes a pipe and
hides in the forest (Indigenous), always playing
tricks and fooling people.

68 Das Bücherschloss 2012 Internationale Jugendbibliothek

 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen

This can be clearly seen Monteiro Lobato was an

when we look at the important agent of this
cover of the first book process. Known as the
that was printed and “Brazilian Andersen”,
published for children Lobato was a revolutio-
in Brazil, a translation nary writer for all ages
into Portuguese of Hans and also an extraordina-
Christian Andersen’s ry publisher. Being both
“The Ugly Duckling” (in a man of action and of
Portuguese, “O Patinho letters, he founded his
Feio”). Published in 1915 own printing house in
by Weiszflog Publishers, 1917, publishing not
it was illustrated by Fran- only his own books
ta Richter, a Czech artist but also those by many
and naturalised Brazil- important Brazilian
ian citizen, who had authors. Motivated by
his artistic training in a strong concern about
Europe. Into his typically childhood, he started
European style, Richter a revolution both in
progressively incorpo- children’s books ethics
rated local elements, and aesthetics. Being
such as landscape, trees, himself an amateur
and clothes, as seen on painter, this multi-
the cover of “A filha da faceted man paid special
floresta” (The daughter attention to the visuals
of the forest), written of his books; this is
by Brazilian professor clearly evident in
Thales de Andrade. “A Menina do Narizinho
Arrebitado” (The girl
Brazil is quite a young country, being almost with the turned-up nose) (1920), illustrated by
the same age as the first printed book. Fifty years Voltolino – the first book of the series “Sítio do
after Gutenberg developed the printing press Pica-pau Amarelo” (Yellow Woodpecker Farm),
in Germany (1450), the first Portuguese ves- considered a corner-stone of Brazilian children’s
sels arrived at the Brazilian coast (1500). It was literature.
only after 1808, however, when the Portuguese
royal family came to Rio de Janeiro fleeing from In the 1920s, the European Avant-garde influ-
Napoleon’s invasion, that printing technology ence reached Brazil, when a group of Brazilian
was allowed into the country – up to then, all artists organised the “Semana de 22” (Modern
books came from Europe, depending on royal Art Week Festival in 1922). Inspired by what they
permission. saw in Europe, some of these artists wrote the
“Manifesto Antropofágico” (Cannibal manifesto),
As a result, the printing industry developed fair- proposing that European influences should be
ly late in Brazil. Only after the First World War, “eaten” and digested in order to then give birth
forced by the difficulties in communicating with to a truly national art form. Many modernist
Europe, did the scene improve considerably. artists, such as Candido Portinari, Anita Malfatti,

Internationale Jugendbibliothek Das Bücherschloss 2012 69

 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen

Tomás Santa Rosa, Bojunga (both Hans

and Paulo Werneck, Christian Andersen
created illustrations Award winners), who
for children’s books subverted govern-
that remain appealing ment censorship and
to Brazilian audiences wrote revolutionary
today. “Cafundó da narratives for young
infância” (Outback of readers.
childhood) and “No
país dos quadratins” Two other important
(In the country of the keystones of this pe-
squaries), for instance, riod were the launch
both written by Carlos of “Revista Recreio“,
Lebéis, were adapted a magazine dedicated
and reprinted recently especially to children,
by the publishing and the creation of
house Cosac Naify. Fundação Nacional
do Livro Infantil e
Following Lobato’s Juvenil (FNLIJ), the
revolution, many Brazilian section of
other illustrators – the International
besides the artists Board on Books for
mentioned above Young People (IBBY).
and Franta Richter
and Voltolino – made individual contributions This (r)evolution of written texts was followed by
to children’s books during the next few decades. one of visual texts during the following decades.
More detailed information about them can be A turning point, both in technical quality and
found at Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e stylistic authenticity, was achieved by the end of
Juvenil’s website (www.fnlij.org.br), as this article the 1990s. International exchange was a mile-
will focus on contemporary artists who started stone in this process. Ana Maria Machado2 talks
their careers in children’s literature from the about the first efforts carried out in the beginning
1970s onwards. of the 1980s by Rico Lins, a prestigeous Brazil-
ian illustrator and designer, who was the curator
The illustration comes of age of an exhibition of illustrations from “Alice in
In the 1970s, after decades of stagnation, another Wonderland” at the Centre Georges Pompidou
explosion in children’s literature took place in in Paris, and also a member of the juries for the
Brazil, during the time of the military dictator- Hans Christian Andersen Award (HCA) and the
ship. Inheriting from the previous government Biennial of Illustration in Bratislava (BIB). Lins
a policy of developing the national industries, warned his colleagues in international contests
including the printing industry, and inspired by a about the fact that illustrations also need transla-
nationalist ideology, the military government de- tion: While European and North-American visual
cided that schools should promote books written culture is more influenced by canonical fine arts,
by Brazilian authors. Ironically enough, among Latin American visual culture is a tropical mixture
the authors who catered to this new demand were of diverse traditions and rich folk handicrafts.
writers, such as Ana Maria Machado and Lygia

70 Das Bücherschloss 2012 Internationale Jugendbibliothek

 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen

As a result of his eye-opening interventions, inter- Contemporary artists

national judges became more aware of Brazilian
illustrators’ originality and their multifaceted
cultural personalities, so that a “virtuous circle”
of international prizes and the search for artistic
excellence was established.
In the 1990s, another important international
exchange took place. Brazil was the Guest of
Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1994, and
at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) in
the following year. Both book fairs were attended
by Brazilian publishers, writers, and illustrators.
The exhibition, organised by the FNLIJ, and
the title of the exhibition catalogue, “Brazil! A
Bright Blend of Colours”, were an example of the
Brazilian creative mixture, as was explained in the
foreword:
“Brazil perhaps is home to the richest mixture of
races in the world. This, it seems to us, is extreme-
ly positive. With so many different backgrounds,
it becomes easier to understand differences and
live with them. Thus, in choosing a title for our
exhibition, we once again made use of mixing [...]
The title reflects our openness to integration into
new areas. It seeks to transmit the idea of surprise
at and curiosity about this brilliant, joyful and
colored mixture that is the Brazilian people.”
Three successive stages can be identified in the
development of Brazilian contemporary illustra-
tion since the 1970s, which correspond roughly
to periods of fifteen years:
1. From the early seventies to the middle of the
eighties, a group that can be called the “pioneers”
of contemporary Brazilian illustration started to
have their works published. Some of the most
remarkable among them are Ziraldo, Rui de
Oliveira, Eliardo França, Angela Lago, and Ciça
Fittipaldi – all of them still active today.
Ziraldo (Caratinga, 1932) lives and works in Rio
de Janeiro. Nominated by FNLIJ for the HCA in
1990 and 1992, he is an illustrator, writer, design-
er, and cartoonist and one of the most famous
comic book designers in Brazil. In his many years
of artistic activity, Ziraldo has mastered a very dis-
tinctive cartoon-like style. He uses black contour
lines filled with bright flat colours, drawing easily
recognizable characters. His first picturebook,
“Flicts”, published in 1969, had a great impact

The international production of picturebooks

exhibited at the fair made a strong impression on
Brazilian illustrators. One of them, Graça Lima,
states that, together with a reinvigorated sense of
cultural identity came the realisation that much
had to be done in order to achieve the high tech-
nical quality that was displayed there.

It is almost twenty years since then, and the con-

stant striving for artistic excellence in visual lan-
guage in terms of content, style, and technique,
together with a strong concern about cultural
identity – which encompasses a wide variety of
elements in dynamic interaction – makes Brazil-
ian illustration so rich and appealing.

Internationale Jugendbibliothek Das Bücherschloss 2012 71

 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
at the 1971 BCBF, being translated into Spanish
and English, and was the first children’s book to
be issued in digital media in Brazil. “O menino
maluquinho” (The crazy boy) (1980), a book that
features one of his most cherished characters, was
adapted for theatre, television, movies, and tur-
ned into the first children’s opera. His books were
translated and published in all Latin America
and in many countries all over the world, includ-
ing Japan and Korea. In Brazil, more than eight
million copies of his books have been sold to
date. Besides many national prizes – such as those
awarded by FNLIJ, Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL),
São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA), and
Book National Institute – he was awarded the
Quevedos prize by the Alcalá University in Spain,
the Diplome Loisirs Jeunes (France), and was
included in the IBBY Honour List.
Rui de Oliveira (Rio de Janeiro, 1942) graduated
in graphic arts and studied painting at the Mo-
dern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro, illustration at
the Hungarian Higher Institute of Industrial Arts
(now Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design)
and film studies at the Pannónia Film Studio,
72 Das Bücherschloss 2012 Internationale Jugendbibliothek
Budapest. A retired professor of UFRJ, where he
taught at the School of Fine Arts for 27 years, he
has an MSc and PhD in communications. He was
the art director of the highly successful children’s
TV series, “Sítio do Picapau Amarelo” (Yellow
Woodpecker Farm), an adaptation of Monteiro
Lobato’s stories produced by Globo Television
Network. Besides being awarded many important
national prizes, such as those bestowed by FNLIJ
and CBL, Oliveira was nominated for the HCA in
2006 and 2008. His works were exhibited at the
Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Paris and at the
Candido Portinari Gallery in Rome in 1998. In
2005, a retrospective exhibition celebrating his
30 years of involvement with book illustration
was shown at the Brazilian
Academy of Letters (ABL)
in Rio de Janeiro. In 2008,
he published “Nos Jardins
Boboli – Reflexões sobre
a arte de ilustrar livros
para crianças e jovens”
(In Boboli Gardens –
Reflections about the art
of illustrating books for
children and youth), one
of the first theoretical
books about this topic to
be published in Brazil. Rui
has a special interest in
the works of the artists of
the Italian quattrocento
and of the Golden Age of
Illustration. His drawings
show a mastery of anato-
my and perspective, and he uses traditional media
such as watercolour, crayon, pen and ink. With
a love for crafts and detail, he sometimes carves
himself his own wooden inkpens.
Ciça Fittipaldi (São Paulo, 1952) lives and works
in Goiânia, where she is a professor of illustra-
tion and editorial design. She graduated in arts
and holds a Master’s Degree in visual culture.
She was a consultant of the Brazilian Ministry of

Ill. Eliardo França, from: “Contos de Andersen“ (1990)
Education and Culture and the United Nations
Development Programme for Indigenous Edu-
cation in the area of Arts and Communication.
Ciça’s special concern about Indigenous cultures
is reflected in her books, either in theme or style.
Inspired by Indigenous artstyle, her drawings fre-
quently include geometric patterns and stylised
shapes of nature’s lifeforms, filled with flat earth-
ly tones. Her books were translated and published
in Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Germany, and
the United States. She was awarded many prizes
from organisations such as FNLIJ, CBL, and APCA
and at the São Paulo Biennial of Arts. In 1995,
she was nominated for the HCA and in 2009
was a member of the jury of the BIB. Her works
were exhibited in Brazil as well as in several other
countries in Latin America and Europe.
Eliardo França (Minas Gerais, 1941) graduated in
architecture and started to work as an illustrator
in 1968, being awarded his first prize the same
year. In 1976, his book “O rei de quase tudo”
(The king of almost everything) was included in
Internationale Jugendbibliothek Das Bücherschloss 2012
Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
the catalogue “Best of the Best”, and he was the
winner of Books for a Better World. He was
awarded prizes by FNLIJ, APCA, was on the IBBY
Honour List and received a BIB Special Mention.
In 1986 he was nominated for the HCA. His
books were exhibited at the Frankfurt Book Fair
and at the BCBF; moreover, his plastic art was
exhibited both in Brazilian galleries and abroad,
in Portugal, Tokyo, and Switzerland. Together
with his wife, Mary França, he has so far pub-
lished more than 300 books. They create naïve
stories where the illustration plays a very attrac-
tive role. His drawings show big round shapes
filled with intense watercolour washes that reveal
the paper texture, conveying a playful and some-
what oneiric atmosphere.
Angela Lago (Belo Horizonte, 1945) earned a
degree in social service and worked in a clinic of
psycho-pedagogical support for children. In 1972
she studied printing design at Napier College in
Edinburgh (UK), and started illustrating her own
books and those by other authors in 1980.
73
 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
In addition, she also works with interactive
animation. Right from her first works, Angela
started making experiments with different media,
ranging from traditional materials such as colour
pencils and acrylic paint, to collage, photography,
and digital art. A special feature of Angela’s work
is the use of the book itself as a narrative de-
vice, for instance playing with the spine and the
kinetic effect of turning the pages. To her long
interest in Brazilian folk culture, she has lately
added an interest in creating ebooks and apps.
Her book “Chiquita Bacana e outras pequetitas”
(Chiquita Bacana and other little ones) won the
Noma Concours Award, and “Cena de rua” (Street
scene) is part of the anthology “The Best Picture
Books of the World”, New York. In 1990, she was
nominated for the HCA. She was awarded many
of the most important Brazilian awards; moreover,
she also received the Prémio Iberoamericano de
Ilustración and the BIB Plaque. Her books were
Ill. Mariana Massarani, from: “Banho!“ (2006)
74 Das Bücherschloss 2012 Internationale Jugendbibliothek
translated into several languages and published
in Latin America and Asia.
2. The second generation, composed of illustra-
tors who started publishing between the middle
of the nineteen-eighties and the turn of the
twenty-first century, was responsible for the
consolidation of the pioneers’ aims – mostly
regarding cultural identity and style authenticity
– adding the quest for improvement in technical
abilities. Some of the most remarkable of them
are Roger Mello, Mariana Massarani, Graça Lima,
Marilda Castanha, and Odilon Moraes.
Roger Mello (Brasília, 1964) moved to Rio de
Janeiro, where he now lives and works, in order
to study graphic design in 1984. He worked
at Ziraldo’s studio, where he met Graça Lima.
Be-sides being an illustrator, he is also a writer,
playwright, and works with animation. Among

Ill. Odilon Moraes (see p. 76), from: “Pedro e lua“ (2004)
the many books he has illustrated, more than
twenty were written by himself. He was awarded
national prizes by organisations in Brazil and
abroad. In addition, he was nominated for the
HCA twice (in 2010 and 2012), being among the
finalists both times. Many of his books have been
translated into English, French, Spanish, Japanese,
and Chinese. His works were exhibited in France
and recently as “Das fantastische Farbenreich des
brasilianischen Illustrators Roger Mello” (Roger
Mello’s wonderful world of colour) at the Inter-
national Youth Library in Munich.3 Roger uses
many different techniques, such as gouache,
acrylics, pastels, crayon, coloured pencil, indus-
trial paint, collage, scrap, always choosing the
one that best suits his story’s narrative purpose.
Besides having a special interest in folk culture,
his illustrations show different inspirations, rang-
ing from figurative realism to avant-garde styles.
Graça Lima (Rio de Janeiro, 1958) has a degree in
design, holds a Master’s in design and a PhD in
visual arts, being presently a professor at UFRJ.
She started to work as an illustrator in 1985 and
so far has illustrated more than a hundred books.
Her first book as an author, the wordless picture-
book “Noite de cão” (A dog’s night, 1992) was
awarded prizes by CBL and FNLIJ. Many other
Internationale Jugendbibliothek Das Bücherschloss 2012
Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
books illustrated by her receiv-
ed the same awards, and in
2011 and 2012 some of them
were among the thirty best
books of the year, selected by
the Brazilian “Crescer” maga-
zine. She took part in exhibi-
tions and catalogues in Barce-
lona, Bratislava, Portugal, and
Frankfurt. Graça has a keen
interest in bringing to Brazilian
children visual references from
their own culture, by means
of ethnicity, animals, plants,
clothes, games, etc.
Mariana Massarani (Rio de Janeiro, 1963) has a
degree in design and so far has illustrated more
than 150 children’s books, being the author of
ten of them. Between 1988 and 2001, she worked
as an illustrator for “Jornal do Brasil” and contri-
buted as a free-lancer to several newspapers and
magazines. She took part in various exhibitions
and was awarded a prize by the CBL no less than
four times. Mariana, Roger Mello, and Graça Lima
are partners in a studio called “Capa Dura em
Cingapura” (Hard Cover in Singapore), a name
that plays with the fact that many Brazilian books
with hard covers are printed in Asian countries,
where production costs are lower. Mariana has a
distinctive style, portraying characters in a humor-
ous and sometimes ironic way. Her drawings are
usually made of simple black lines filled with flat
colours, using coloured ink, or acrylic paint. She
frequently draws on paper with black pen, scans
the originals and then fills them with bright
colours and patterns in a playful way.
Marilda Castanha (Belo Horizonte, 1964) works
and lives in Santa Luzia with her two children
and her husband Nelson Cruz, who is also an
illustrator. She graduated in arts, and started to
illustrate books in the late nineteen-eighties. She
was awarded many national and international
75
 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
Ill. Fernando Vilela, from: “Lampião e Lancelote“ (2006)
prizes and her works were exhibited at the Frank-
furt Book Fair, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
and at the BIB. Marilda has a very characteristic
style, with distorted shapes and perspective plus
unusual colours that add great visual impact to
the stories.
Odilon Moraes (São Paulo, 1966) graduated in
architecture in 1992, but never worked as an
architect: In 1990, he illustrated his first book,
and in 1993 was awarded his first Jabuti prize.
Later on, he won other Jabuti and FNLIJ awards,
both as an illustrator and author. His preferred
medium is watercolour, which he uses to portray
delicate characters in a poetic and somewhat me-
lancholic style. Besides illustrating and painting,
Odilon also offers workshops about illustration
and the history of book illustration. In 2012,
together with illustrator Maurício Paraguassu
and children’s book specialist Ronna Hanning,
he was the co-author of “Traço e prosa” (Stroke
and prose, 2012), a theoretical book containing
interviews with many important Brazilian illustra-
tors. In the same year, together with Fernando
Vilela, Katia Canton, and Alcimar Frazão, he
was the curator of the exhibition “Linhas de
76 Das Bücherschloss 2012 Internationale Jugendbibliothek
histórias – Um panorama do livro ilustrado
no Brasil” (Lines of stories – A panorama of the
picturebook in Brazil).
3. The third generation of contemporary Brazilian
illustrators is formed by artists who started pub-
lishing in this century, such as Fernando Vilela,
André Neves, Andrés Sandoval, and Daniel Bueno.
Pushing further the quests of the previous gene-
rations, these artists keep expanding the limits
of illustration towards artistic excellence, using
experimental language and mixed techniques in
a mixture of local and global aesthetics, both in
style and theme.
Fernando Vilela (São Paulo, 1973) studied fine
arts and holds a Master’s Degree in arts. Besides
being an award-winning children’s book author
and illustrator, he is also an educator, designer,
and sculptor, having his artworks exhibited in art
galleries in Brazil and abroad. Fernando works
with paint, engraving, woodcut and photography.
In 2004, he won the FNLIJ’s award for “Illustrator
Revelation”, and in 2005, he took part in the BIB.
His book “Lampião e Lancelote” (Lampião and
Lancelot) was awarded a Jabuti prize, received the

New Horizons Award at the BCBF, and was includ-
ed in the IJB’s White Ravens catalogue. So far,
he has illustrated more than sixty books, being
the writer of thirteen of them. Some of his books
were translated and published in the UK, France,
Mexico, and Canada. His illustrations have a
very sophisticated visual language, revealing his
involvement with contemporary fine arts.
André Neves (Recife, 1973) lives and works
in Porto Alegre as illustrator, writer, and art-
educator. After graduating in public relations,
he started to study fine arts and attended a class
about picturebook illustration at Scuola Inter-
nazionale d’Italia in Illustrazione in Sàrmede
(Italy), where he presently offers courses. His
works were shown in exhibitions in Europe and
were awarded many prizes in Brazil and abroad.
So far, he has illustrated more than fifty books,
some written by himself. André has a great in-
terest in folk culture, which can be seen both in
his stories and illustrations. Textures, embroide-
ry, and handicrafts are frequent visual references
in his colourful drawings.
Internationale Jugendbibliothek Das Bücherschloss 2012
Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
Andrés Sandoval (Chile, 1973) moved to São Pau-
lo at the age of three, where he later graduated in
architecture and urbanism. Since 2001, he works
as an illustrator, being awarded many prizes from
FNLIJ. He was invited to the BIB and to the Mon-
treuil Children’s Book Fair in France, where he
also supervised workshops for illustration. Besides
illustrating children’s books, he also works for
adults’ magazines, creates fine arts projects, and
paints murals both in private and public build-
ings. Juxtaposed lines and geometric shapes in
flat colours convey a quite urban atmosphere to
his illustrations, resembling graffitis’ or comics’
visual vocabulary. Since 2004, he has been parti-
cipating in the activities of Charivari, a group that
publishes experimental projects using different
printing techniques.
Daniel Bueno (São Paulo, 1974) graduated
in architecture and urbanism in 2001, and
got a Master’s degree in 2007. He is an illustra-
tor, graphic designer, and comic book artist,
having contributed to more than fifty magazines,
newspapers, and book publishing companies. His
animation “Into Pieces”, created together with
Guilherme Marcondes, was exhibited at the Otta-
wa and Annecy Festivals and won a Merit Award
in the Prix Arts Electronica in Austria. Daniel re-
ceived awards in Brazil, the USA, and at the BCBF.
His work deals with geometric shapes, textures,
graphic ambiguity, and illusion, with fantasy and
the grotesque.
Works from almost all of the artists cited here can
be seen either in “Brazil! A Bright Blend of Co-
lours” and in the FNLIJ’s catalogue for the BCBF
2013.4 The catalogues, organised yearly by FNLIJ
with the help of specialists’ recommendations,
gather the best of what has been published for
children in Brazil in recent years. After being ex-
hibited in Bologna, the books are donated to the
International Youth Library. Thus, apart from the
temporary exhibition at the fair, they are avail-
able at the permanent archives of the IYL.
77
 Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
Conclusion
In addition to creating remarkable picturebooks,
Brazilian illustrators are also thinking critically
about their field of activity and expanding its
borders. Filling a serious gap in critical studies
about illustration in Brazil, they are themselves
publishing studies in the area, in addition to or-
ganising workshops and exhibitions for children
and adults and taking part in literary festivals
and book fairs. Also noteworthy is their commit-
ment as professors of graduate courses to train
new generations of illustrators. Unfortunately,
there isn’t yet a specific graduate or post-graduate
course in illustration in Brazil, therefore many of
the students choose fine arts or graphic design
courses. However, this lack of specific courses
can have some positive side effects: It can widen
the horizon of illustration by providing a fruitful
knowledge about connected areas, and it requires
a proactive attitude from students, who need to
seek for themselves a more specific and profound
Ill. Andrés Sandoval, from: “Siga a seta!“ (2010)
78 Das Bücherschloss 2012 Internationale Jugendbibliothek
knowledge and practice. Being in contact with
professors who are experienced illustrators helps
form a social network of mutual support and
exchange among different generations.
As Angela Lago points out, Brazil is a “teen” nati-
on, still forming its identity, and this is reflected
in the diversity of the illustrators’ works and in
their interest in different visual languages.5 In the
twentieth century, it was important for illustra-
tors to break free from European traditions and
search for autonomous aesthetics. This was
achieved by means of paying special attention
to local features, as Ana Maria Machado claims:
“For a long time, it was difficult for us to see our-
selves in a great part of Brazilian illustration. Not
by incapacity, but by lack of example, of critical
demand, of a ‘touch’ to raise the question. Most
of all, by lack of an education of the eye previous
to the work execution.”6

In the twenty-first century, illustrators are getting
a step ahead and widening the horizons, com-
bining post-modern features with the now very
familiar local elements, a fact that is evident
by looking not only at the third group’s works,
but also at what has been done by the previous
groups’ members in recent years. This is espe-
cially true for Roger Mello. Among this selection
of some of the most outstanding of Brazilian con-
temporary illustrators, all of them still “alive and
kicking”, it is possible to point out what makes
Roger Mello such a great representative of their
best qualities and also of the Brazilian mixture.
In his works, we see folk and urban themes,
plants and animals, local and foreign landscapes,
all depicted in a variety of styles ranging from
figurative realism to postmodern collage, with
generous references to folk art. As happens in
Brazilian culture, this mixture is neither messy
nor lacking personality – it reveals the ability
to harmonise differences and to produce fertile
creations from varied materials.
As a final remark, let me point out a unique
feature of the contemporary Brazilian children’s
book market: The federal government is the main
buyer of children’s books via numerous literacy
projects. The Programa Nacional Biblioteca da
Escola (PNBE – School Library National Pro-
gramme) is dedicated exclusively to buying
literary books to be distributed to school libraries
all over the country – with almost 10.5 million
books reaching more than 22 million students,
from preschool to college in 2012.7 Books from
all of the artists named here are regularly selected
with the help of specialists’ recommendations,
for this and other projects, reaching not only
children in wealthy urban areas, but also the ones
in the most peripheral and deprived regions.
Besides creating children’s books, these artists are
also playing a significant role in extending the
horizons of visual literacy to a wider audience
that would be hard to reach otherwise. Just like
Brazil, these artists are united in their diversity
and show the positive outcomes of mixing.
Internationale Jugendbibliothek Das Bücherschloss 2012
Autoren – Illustratoren – Themen
Since her graduation from Rio de Janeiro State
University, Claudia Mendes works as a gra-
phic designer specialising in children’s books.
Following this first degree in Graphic Design,
she also completed a post-graduate degree in
Children’s Literature at Fluminense Federal
University, a master’s degree in Visual Arts at the
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and is cur-
rently enrolled in a PhD degree in Visual Arts at
the same university. During her stay in Munich
in 2011 as a fellow at the International Youth
Library, she assisted and advised the library’s
staff in preparing the exhibition of the Brazilian
author and illustrator Roger Mello.
(see “Das Bücherschloss“, 2011, p. 84-87).
1 BRICS is the title of an association of five major
emerging national economies, Brazil, Russia, India,
China, and South Africa, with fast-growing economies.
2 Ana Maria Machado: Foreword. In: Rui Oliveira: Pelos
Jardins Boboli. Reflexões sobre a arte de ilustrar livros
para crianças e jovens. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira,
2008
3 see “Das Bücherschloss“, 2011, p. 84-87
4 Accessible in http://www.fnlij.org.br/imagens/
primeira%20pagina/bolonha/Bolonha%202013.pdf
5 Ângela Lago; Lino Albergaria: A imagem que narra.
3º Congresso da Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil
e Juvenil. Rio de Janeiro, 1989, p. 81-90
6 Ana Maria Machado, op. cit.
7 Source: FNDE – Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento
da Educação (National Fund for Education Develop-
ment), http://www.fnde.gov.br/programas/biblioteca-
da-escola/biblioteca-da-escola-dados-estatisticos
79