reviewed by John A. Lent
António Antunes. Angeli: 50 anos de humor. Lisbon: Documenta, 2023. 128 pp. ISBN 978-989-568-091-7.
Bárbara Reis, José António Lima, and António Antunes. Cartoons do ano 2022. Lisbon: Documenta, 2023. 130 pp. ISBN 978-989-568-092-4.
It is not that common that a city commits itself to advancing and honoring the cartooning profession as does Vila Franca de Xira in Portugal. I can think of a few, such as San Antonio del Los Baños in Cuba, the village of St. Just in France, and Kyrenia in Cyprus, the latter depending on who holds the mayor’s position.
One
of the features that stands out with Vila Franca de Xira is its publication of
catalogues and anthologies that come out regularly on high quality paper,
beautifully designed, and with both Portuguese and English language essays and
captions. Responsible for curating the Cartoon Xira annual exhibition and
supervising resultant publications is local cartoonist António Antunes, with strong
support of Fernando Paulo Ferreira, current city mayor, as well as Bárbara Reis
and José António Lima.
Two
books, each of about 130 pages, were published for the year 2022; one was the
annual cartoons of the year, the other a collection of the works of an honored
cartoonist. The 2022 annual was broken into themes, namely, “Here Come the
Russians!” “Absolute Governance,” “Marcelo-Rebelo’s Way of Acting,” “Cover up
the Sun and the Sieve,” “Brazilian Brasil,” “Make America Great Again,” “Is the
Horizon Red?” “…And God Saved the Queen,” “In the Name of the Lord,” and “A
Window to the World.” They dealt with Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping, Portugal’s
election and President Marcelo, the turmoil of air traffic in Portugal, Brazil,
China’s effort to control the Covid-19 virus pandemic, the succession of three
prime ministers of Britain in 2022, pedophilia and the Catholic Church, women
protestors in Iran, greenhouse effect and climate change, salty consumerism,
economic depression, and the energy crisis. Each section was introduced by a
bi-lingual essay. For the most part, the 100 works were hard-hitting and easy
to grasp quickly, the mark of a successful cartoon. A few were not.
Honored in the second volume is Angeli (Arnaldo Angeli Filho), the fourth Brazilian cartoonist so designated; the others being Osmani Simanca (actually born and raised in Cuba) in 2022, Cau Gomez in 2020, and Loredano in 2010. The 67-year-old Angeli is especially known for bringing out Chiclete com banana (Banana Bubblegum) in 1983, one of Brazil’s most important adult comic books. Many of Angeli’s pictured cartoons paint a pessimistic view of the world, concentrating on poverty, violence, injustice, blood baths, homelessness, war, racism, global warming, corruption, slave labor, the wide split between the haves and have-nots, pollution, and death. They are not drawings that elicit a giggle; rather, they provoke thought and perhaps anger and shame.
These catalogues are definitely worth having, studying, and saving as information resources, entertainment, and collectibles.
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