TOMA!

The Bordalo Pinheiro Museum has inaugurated the exhibition “Toma! 150 Years of Zés Povinhos” curated by designer Jorge Silva and the museum’s director, João Alpuim Botelho.

Zé Povinho was created by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro on June 12, 1875, in the central pages of his newspaper A Lanterna Mágica, and today, 150 years after his birth, Zé ​​remains as present in our daily lives as he was then, earning a place in our collective imagination as a symbol of the Brazilian people.

Zé Povinho’s success is measured not only by his longevity but also by the multiplicity of appropriations he has undergone. Initially created by other cartoonists, it soon jumped from the pages of humorous newspapers to other environments and media: it appeared on theater stages, was modeled by popular ceramists to create the “manguito” (a gesture of disapproval) in amusing objects, drawn on advertising and political posters, used on postage stamps, trademarks, newspaper covers, even becoming the mascot of the national football team and giving its name to a low-cost popular car project.

Throughout the exhibition “Toma! 150 years of Zés Povinhos,” we will follow this trajectory, without forgetting the original and brilliant Bordalo de Melo Zé Povinho who gave rise to this story.