Second issue of the handwritten journal Parva (em Latim) [Parva (in Latin), where ‘parva’ in Portuguese also means ‘fool’], of which four numbers are known (1, 2, 4 and 5, all conserved in the CAM collection). The journal was conceived in the context of the ‘Five Colors Club’,* a ballet group created in 1918 on the occasion of the creation and performance of O jardim da Pierrette [The garden of Pierrette], written by Almada himself. The club was formed by Almada and four young friends, addressed by nicknames: Tareca (Maria Madalena Morais da Silva Amado), Lalá (Maria Adelaide Burnay Soares Cardoso), Zeca (Maria José Burnay Soares Cardoso) and Tatão (Maria da Conceição de Mello Breyner). The performance of O jardim da Pierrette was a decisive moment for the genesis of Almada’s poetics of ingenuity, here related to topics seen as essential elements of creation such as childhood, imagination and spontaneity. Almada would further develop this poetics during his stay in Paris between 1919 and 1920.

 

Almada himself authored the entire journal, signing with ‘Verde’ [Green] and ‘Zu’ (probably an abbreviation from ‘azul’, meaning ‘blue’), while his four young friends also had their colour nicknames – purple for Tareca, white or yellow for Lalá, red for Zeca and blue for Tatão. This second issue of Parva includes several drawings and the fictional narratives ‘Hoje sinto-me toda fina’ [Today I feel all classy], ‘Pierrette estava sozinha’ [Pierrette was alone] and ‘História da Menina Doida Que não Era Parva de Todo’ [Story about the Crazy Girl who was no Fool at All]. All are dated from 1920, and were probably made after Almada’s return from Paris to Lisbon.

 

 

* Other works from the collection of the CAM also belong to this context. See the drawings and letters with inventory numbers DP167, DP168, DP176, DP183, DP184, DP247, DP248, DP249 and DP250.

 

 

 

SAF

 

May 2010