All my life is assembled in art. I call myself a TIME MARKETPLACE. Every six months I have a new job. As soon as Carnival is over, I rest for some time and then I set off to paint by pictures, I assemble pictures for painters that are my clients, I make furniture, I decorate rooms... And something that keeps me somehow organized is that, when Carnival is over, I already start the work for the next year! When I stop, I’m drawing projects in my drawing board, during the night, for next year’s Carnival... Drawing costumes, models and masks for the giants, because I’m a designer too... (Silvio Botelho quoted by BONALD NETO, 2007).
Silvio Romero Botelho de Almeida was born in May 14, 1956, in the neighborhood of Amparo, in Olinda, Pernambuco. An autodidact, he started early to work with wood, cast and clay sculptures, influenced by the clay artists of Caruaru, specially Master Vitalino.
An apprentice of the Olinda artisan Roque de Lima, known as Roque Fogueteiro, Silvio learned with him several techniques, such as implanting hair on the dolls, how to make modeling dough, how to combine colors, how to mix solvents and paints, in addition to preparing gunpowder for fireworks. Later, he discovered other techniques when travelling around Brazil.
He started in Carnival projects in the 1970s, making masks and props. In 1974, he created his first giant doll, O Menino da Tarde, “son” after O Homem da Meia-Noite and A Mulher do Dia met. (SILVIO, 2007).
The first doll I made [...] was O Menino da Tarde. Ernandes Lopes was the person that asked me to make it. At that time, there was only O Homem da Meia-Noite and A Mulher do Dia. He was their son. The biggest challenge was to understand what was making a giant doll. A doll that is 2,9 m high. In two months O Menino da Tarde was ready. It weighed 35 kilos and was made of wood, grass, hard cardboard and paper. When he saw the result, the famous artisan Roque Fogueteiro was impressed by the beauty of the work and advised me to stay in the path of art.
Silvio Botelho has been perfecting his technique for making dolls every day, evolving from the traditional clay modeling to direct modeling in a Styrofoam block, obtaining Giants that are light and versatile. The body is made with glass fiber. Currently, the dolls reach 3 meter high and weigh from 13 to 15 kilos, very far for the first ones, that weighed about 50 kilos.
Twenty years ago I made my dolls using mainly clay to mold the pieces and then I covered them with paper, and glued them until it formed a thick layer, so that after I could remove them and finish it with more paper, finishing it with acrylic dough. In 1995, I introduced glass fiber, which allowed me faster execution. To give you an idea, O Homem da Meia Noite, for instance, weighs 50 kilos. (INTERVIEW..., 2012).
It takes about twenty days to manufacture each doll and it is a process of continuous creation, in order to perfect the techniques. Because the latex is a very expensive raw material, the artisans feel sorry for not being able to use it in their creations.
He was the planner of the Encontro de Bonecos Gigantes de Olinda (Meeting of Olinda Giant Dolls), which had its 26th edition in 2013, gathering dolls made by him and other artisans, on Carnival Tuesday, in Olinda..
The first Encontro dos Bonecos Gigantes de Olinda happened on a Saturday, in 1987. I held it as a joke. I closed the street with the dolls to ask people for money and, afterwards, to drink some beer. The idea worked and it’s been happening every year. In 1990, we innovated with the marriage of O Homem da Meia-Noite with the A Mulher do Dia to legitimate their children, O Menino do Dia and A Menina da Tarde. (SILVIO, 2007).
Silvio has already created hundreds of giant dolls for Carnival, advertisement and political campaigns, weddings and even funerals:
I receive orders all year long for all kinds of events, like fairs and parties. I’ve made a lot of doll for weddings. The family orders it, and it’s usually a surprise for the couple. I’ve also already made dolls used in funerals, as a tribute. The giants are very representative of Carnival, but they go beyond that; they are a tradition consolidated in our culture. (GATIS, 2011).
Having made over nine hundred giant dolls, created and manufactured by him and his team, Silvio Botelho is considered the “Father of Olinda’s Giant Dolls”, and the most famous dollmaker in Pernambuco, with national and international recognition. Below, a list in alphabetical order of some of his giant dolls:
A BOCHECHA
A BRUXA
O CALIFA
CAPIBA
CAPITÃO ALCEU VALENÇA
CARLINHOS BROWN
O CUECÃO
O DEMO
DEVASSO
DONA CAROLINA
DR. FAISÃO
ENÉAS FREIRE
A ESPOTELA
O FILHO DO HOMEM DA MEIA NOITE
FOFOQUEIROS DE OLINDA
GAROTO DA VASSOURA
O GONZAGÃO
A HOMELHADA
O INCRÍVEL HUCK
O JACARÉ
JOHN TRAVOLTA
LADY OLINDA
LAMPIÃO
LIA DE ITAMARACÁ
LUIZ GONZAGA
A LUANA EM FOLIA
MÃE OLINDA
MAESTRO FORRÓ
MANOEL BOMBARDINO
MARIA BATALHÃO DO PORTO SEGURO
MARIA BONITA
MAROCAS DE OLINDA
A MENINA DA TARDE
O MENINO DA TARDE
O MENINO DO RIO DOCE
MENINO SERAPIÃO
A NORDESTINA
A PADILHA
PALHAÇO DE GRAVATÁ
PALHAÇO TRINCA DE ÁS
PARALELO
PEDRINHO DA PILAR
O PERIQUITO
O PROFESSOR
O PROFETA
RAPOSÃO (ANTIGO FAUSTÃO)
RECRIANÇA
SEXTA-FEIRA
A SOLDADA DA MEIA-NOITE
O SOLDADO DA MEIA-NOITE
TABACO
O TARADO DA SÉ
ZÉ PEREIRA
ZEU DE OLINDA
In 1993, the doll LADY OLINDA, that was three meters high, was in the parade of the Carnival of Santa Fe (New Mexico, USA), an invitation of the American anthropologist Katarina Real (Kate), who was passionate about the Carnival of Pernambuco.
In September 2008, his atelier, located on Rua do Amparo, in Quatro Cantos, Olinda, burned and was closed. Before being closed, he was visited annually for thousands of people interested in his art. Today the atelier is going through structural renovations.
According to Silvio Botelho, the doll that brought him the most happiness was O Menino da Tarde. The dolls don’t bring me sadness, only joy. They are my life. (SILVIO, 2007).
Recife, February 22, 2013.
sources consulted
BONALD NETO, Olímpio. Os gigantes foliões em Pernambuco. 2. ed. Recife: CEPE, 2007.
ENTREVISTA com Silvio Botelho. In: GIOVANNI Ferreira. 2012. Available at: <http://geovanniferreira.blogspot.com.br/2012/02/entrevista-com-silvio-botelho.html>. Accessed: 23 jan. 2013.
GATIS, Guilherme. Criador de gigantes, artesão já produziu bonecos para folia, casamentos e até enterros. 2011. Available at: <http://carnaval.uol.com.br/2011/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2011/02/26/criador-de-gigantes-artesao-ja-produziu-bonecos-para-folia-casamentos-e-ate-enterros.htm>. Accessed: 21 fev. 2013.
SILVIO Botelho: o pai dos bonecos gigantes: In: ARLINDO Siqueira. 2007.Available at: <http://arlindosiqueiraolinda.blogspot.com.br/2007/11/slvio-botelho-o-pai-dos-bonecos.html>. Accessed 24 jan. 2013.
how to quote this text
Source: GASPAR, Lúcia. Silvio Botelho e seus bonecos gigantes. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, Recife.Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Example: 6 August 2009.