Gravuras do Nordeste Holandez do artista visual Nivalson Miranda e os brasões do seiscentismo nassoviano

Abstract

The images from the print series known as NORDESTE HOLANDEZ were created between 1972 and 1993 by the contemporary graphic artist from Paraíba, Nivalson Miranda (1927–2013). The woodcuts in this series are part of the collection at the Pinacoteca of the Universidade Federal da Paraíba. In his work, Miranda employed heraldic drawings to build his visual discourse, centered on the 17th-century theme of resistance struggles in Brazil against the troops of the Dutch West India Company, which took place in regions of the Northeast. This research seeks to analyze the visual discourse created by the artist through an analytical and critical lens, using the image-reading and interpretation methods developed by art theorist and historian Erwin Panofsky. A bibliographic review was adopted here, covering authors, theorists, and historical themes related to the images that are the object of this study. The coats of arms that spatially identify regions of the Northeast, and that appear in Miranda’s work, were originally created by the Dutch artist Frans Post (1612–1680). These illustrate engravings published in Gaspar Barléu’s Rerum per octennium in Brasilia (1647), a work about the eight-year governance of Maurice of Nassau in Brazil. These graphic marks form a central element of the object of this Art History study, focusing on the connection between images created by Nivalson Miranda and Frans Post. The aim is to understand the author's visual discourse expressed by the Paraíba-born artist through heraldic symbols that emerged during one of the most significant moments in the history and visual arts of the region, images that echo the visuality of the artists in the entourage of Maurício de Nassau and the graphic language of blasons. In this sense, this work seeks to expand the critical perspective on coats of arms and engravings as influential media in shaping the historical space and regional identity in the visual discourse of NORDESTE HOLANDEZ.