The writer and art critic Mário de Andrade makes an extremely interesting comment about printmaking, noting that prints are not among “collectors’ favorite items.” In his opinion, this is why Brazilian art production suffers, a situation that is largely due to the lack of modern printmakers. That said, he mentions Oswaldo Goeldi, who has just published an album, Dez gravuras em madeira [Ten Woodcuts], with an introduction by the poet Manuel Bandeira. The introduction to this album is mentioned and partially reproduced in de Andrade’s article. 

In this critically accurate document, Mário de Andrade (1893–1945) discusses the work of the draftsman, illustrator, and printmaker Oswaldo Goeldi (1895–1961) and describes his technique as being in the German woodcut tradition. Goeldi was introduced to the woodcut style by Ricardo Bampi in 1923. In de Andrade’s opinion, which is substantiated by the prints in the album Dez gravuras em madeira de Oswaldo Goeldi [Ten Woodcuts by Oswaldo Goeldi], the Brazilian artist preserves the “plant-like qualities” of the wood throughout the printing process. De Andrade also notes that Goeldi’s black and white drawings fluctuate between two extremes: “He can alternate between a very rough synthesis and the loveliest of resolutions.”

Manuel Bandeira (1884–1968), the poet from Pernambuco, was also an art critic, professor of literature, and a translator; he wrote the introduction to Goeldi’s album. On the strength of his poem, Os sapos [The Toads], he was a member of the Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] (1922). By the time he wrote the introduction to Goeldi’s album, Bandeira had already published a radically important book, Libertinagem [Licentiousness] (1930) in which he achieved effects that were fairly similar to Brazilian “modernism” through the use of free verse. The book includes representative poems, such as Evocação do Recife [Memories of Recife] and Vou-me embora pra Pasárgada [I Am on My Way to Pasárgada].