Mestre Noza (Taquaritinga do Norte PE 1897 - s.l. 1984)
Printmaker, sculptor, santeiro (carver of saints).
In 1912, Inocêncio da Costa Nick moved to Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, where he attended the workshop of the sculptor José Domingos. He began printmaking by making brand labels for cachaça, as well as carving images of saints. In 1962, he made the woodcut series Vida de Lampião [Life of Lampião] and Os Doze Apóstolos [The Twelve Apostles], later published by the Museu de Arte da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Mauc. In 1965, his work Via Sacra [Way of the Cross] was published in Paris by the publisher Robert Morel, with a presentation by Sérvulo Esmeraldo.
Critiques
"One meter eighty tall - more or less -, square face, flat head covered with white hair. Skin burned and dried by the violent sun of Ceará. A wide smile, in a toothless mouth that has even tried to speak French. Rosaries, scapulars, medals and amulets hanging from a thin, wrinkled neck. Shirt unbuttoned, revealing a respectable belly and the grip of a superb Parabellum. With his left hand firmly holding a piece of umburana-de-cheiro wood and with the other a razor-sharp peixeira knife, there he was, Inocêncio da Costa Niquel, standing like a statue, unconcerned in his task of creating yet another work of art. That is exactly how I first saw Mestre Noza, on the lookout of a little house on a street - whose name I have forgotten - in Juazeiro do Padre Cícero, the famous Mecca of Cariri. I still remember it as if it were today. From Mestre Noza one can expect anything: a friendly word, a welcoming gesture, a good conversation sprinkled with spicy phrases, stories made up on the spot, or things that really happened. There was a time when one could hear the order 'You're under arrest!' - he was once a 'cop' too. But Mestre Noza's strong point is his works of art, for he is the great artist of the whole Cariri Valley. At that very moment, he was cutting an expressionless piece of wood. With precise blows, that shapeless piece of umburana, held by divine hands - yes, because artists' hands are like the hands of God: they create, transform, erase - took on a more definite, beautiful and gentle form. It took the form of a saint. In an hour or so, Mestre Noza, who has the power to create and transform things, held in his hands no longer a simple, expressionless piece of wood, but the image of a saint, the only Brazilian saint. The saint of all the people of Ceará, my favorite saint: Padre Cícero Romão Batista. Without paying the slightest attention to my presence, he coldly analyzed the result of his work with a critical eye. He was satisfied. On his square face of skin dried by the violent sun of Ceará, a broad, happy smile opened, because he had just performed another miracle of art."
Floriano Teixeira
NOZA, Mestre. Os Doze apóstolos gravado por Mestre Noza, Juazeiro, CE, Brazil. Fortaleza: Museu de Arte da Universidade Federal do Ceará, s.d. 18 lâms. il. p. b.
"Among the popular prints, those of Mestre Noza stand out; he was recognized in Brazil only after exhibiting in France. His work proves that in popular printmaking technically rough elements can harmonize with refinement and the exact adequacy of means and messages, to reach expressive levels of aesthetic enjoyment. It is inevitable to associate Noza with the German Expressionists of the Die Brücke (The Bridge) group, especially in allegorical scenes such as the Via Crucis. His violent and expressive line is born autonomous, the result of a precise technique of carving the wood."
Leonor Amarante
XILOGRAVURA: do cordel à galeria. Texto Haroldo de Campos, Fábio Magalhães, Leonor Amarante. São Paulo: Metrô, 1994. 36 p. il. p&b. p. 12.
Group Exhibitions
1975 - n.p. - 1ª Exposição de Artesanato do Nordeste [1st Northeast Crafts Exhibition] - Exanor - Best Craftsman of the Northeast
Posthumous Exhibitions
1984 - Curitiba PR - 6ª Mostra da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba. A Xilogravura na História da Arte Brasileira [6th Curitiba City Printmaking Exhibition. Woodcut in the History of Brazilian Art], at Casa Romário Martins
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Xilogravura na História da Arte Brasileira [Woodcut in the History of Brazilian Art], at Galeria Sérgio Milliet da Funarte
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [18th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1993 - João Pessoa PB - Xilogravura: do cordel à galeria [Woodcut: From Cordel to Gallery], at Fundação Espaço Cultural da Paraíba
1994 - São Paulo SP - Xilogravura: do cordel à galeria [Woodcut: From Cordel to Gallery], at Metrô
1998 - São Paulo SP - Os Colecionadores - Guita e José Mindlin: matrizes e gravuras [The Collectors - Guita and José Mindlin: Matrices and Prints], at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Mostra do Redescobrimento. Arte Popular [Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Popular Art], at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - Investigações. A Gravura Brasileira [Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking], at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Brasília DF - Investigações. A Gravura Brasileira [Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking], at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - Penápolis SP - Investigações. A Gravura Brasileira [Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking], at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2004 - São Paulo SP - Novas Aquisições: 1995 - 2003 [New Acquisitions: 1995 - 2003], at MAB-FAAP
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Gravuras e Matrizes da Coleção Guita e José Mindlin [Prints and Matrices from the Guita and José Mindlin Collection], at Centro Cultural Correios
Source: Itaú Cultural
