(The Prostitute's Arrival in Heaven)

José Francisco Borges (Bezerros, Brazil), 2004, 2017
Woodcut print on paper (21 1/2" x 15" image on 26" x 19" sheet)
(Colors may vary) Also available in black and white.

"His best-known, however, The Arrival of the Prostitute in Heaven, published in 1976, sold over 100,000 copies. Readers were lured by the story of a charismatic prostitute who goes to Hell, only to persuade her captors that she should be transferred to Heaven. Once through the pearly gates (the woodcut on the front shows her being given a leg-up by the Devil himself ), she seduces a range of holy characters. One lyric goes: ‘One night on St John’s Day, she danced with Saint Expedito, was scorned by Saint Blaise, dated Saint Carlito and at the end of the party went to sleep with Saint Benedict.’"  (Oliver Basciano Remembering José Francisco Borges’s Literatura de Cordel ArtReview, September 9, 2024)