Angelo Agostini (8 April 1843 – 23 January 1910) was an Italian-born Brazilian

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and founder of several publications, and although born in Italy, is considered the first Brazilian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

Biography

Agostini was born in

Vercelli Vercelli (; ) is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around 600 BC. ...

, Italy, but following adolescence and art studies in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he arrived in Brazil in 1859 with his mother the singer Raquel Agostini, and settled. At an early age, he published drawn work in the

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

publication ''Diabo Coxo'' on 17 September 1864. Following more work published in ''Cabrião'' and ''Revista Arlequim'', Agostini produced a sequential image story serialised in ''Vida Fluminense'' titled ''As Aventuras de Nhô Quim'' (''The Adventures of Nhô Quim''). The first chapter published on 30 January 1869, the story involved themes of conflict between the agricultural and urban culture, and political commentary through visual storytelling capable of reaching a largely illiterate population. During the 1880s Agostini started the periodical '' Revista Illustrada'', which became noted for its illustrated coverage of the annual

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

. On 27 January 1883, the first chapter of ''As Aventuras do Zé Caipora'' (''The Adventures of Zé Caipora'') was published, starting a successful publication run of 35 episodes spread out over many years,. Achieving a multimedia impact, the series was printed in four editions, and inspired a popular song and two silent films. Agostini established the magazine ''Don Quixote'' in 1895, which lasted until 1906, and with Luiz Bartolomeu de Sousa e Silva founded the influential youth magazine '' O Tico-Tico'' for publisher '' O Malho'' in 1905. During his final years he worked for the magazine ''O Malho'', until his death in 1910.

Personal life

Agostini was married and he and the painter Abigail de Andrade's relationship caused a scandal in Rio de Janeiro society. The couple left Brazil in 1888 for

, with their daughter Angelina Agostini (1888-1973), who also became a sculptor and painter. Andrade had a second son with Agostini, Angelo, who died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

after birth. She died a year later of the same illness.

Legacy

Named in honour of Agostini, the Prêmio Angelo Agostini is a Brazilian comics prize awarded by Associação dos Quadrinhistas e Caricaturistas do Estado de São Paulo since 1985.

Bibliography

* ''As Aventuras de Nhô Quim'' (1869) * ''As Aventuras do Zé Caipora'' (1883) * ''História de Pai João'' (1906) * ''A Arte de Formar Brasileiros'' (1906)

Sources

External links

Angelo Agostini biography
on Lambiek Comiclopedia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agostini, Angelo 1843 births 1910 deaths People from Vercelli Italian emigrants to Brazil Brazilian illustrators Brazilian journalists Brazilian male journalists Prêmio Angelo Agostini winners