Iracema, by Anita Malfatti
The exhibition retraces the journey of José de Alencar's work, republished in 1941, highlighting the illustrations by Brazilian Modernist artist Anita Malfatti.
Pages 98 and 99 of Iracema, with illustration by Anita Malfatti (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
Iracema, by José de Alencar [1829 - 1877], was published in 1941, and received the Livraria Martins Editora label, and it became a part of the Biblioteca de Literatura Brasileira collection.
Page 67 of Iracema, with illustration by Anita Malfatti (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
Set in Ceará, the story of the passion between the indigenous Iracema and the european Martim Soares Morena mixes elements of indigenous mythology and the history of colonization in Brazil.
Situating the narrative of Iracema in the canon of literacy criticism in Brazil, Guilherme de Almeida [1890-1969] wrote the introduction to this inaugural work by the Ceará novelist.
José de Alencar draws a fictitious portrait of the genesis of the people of Ceará, making this work one of the most important in the context of Ceará literature, which has been republished countless times since its release.
"The 'indianism' was the most marked current of this nationalizing movement in Brazilian literature, José de Alencar, in prose, like Gonçalves Dias, in poetry, its most exalted coryphaeus; and 'Iracema', perhaps the most legitimate wild fruit of this tropical orchard." - Guilherme de Almeida
Page of Iracema, with illustration by Anita Malfatti (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
Livraria Martins Editora initiated its activities in the year of 1939 as a company in the book market dedicated to importing books, considered rare in Brazil, from countries such as France, England and the United States.
Illustration by Anita Malfatti in the book Iracema (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
In 1939, José de Barros Martins, the founder of Livraria Martins Editora, begins his activities as a book publisher in Brazil, dedicating it to national literature.
Illustration by Anita Malfatti in the book Iracema (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
From 1940 to 1950, Livraria Martins Editora established the Biblioteca de Literatura Brasileira collection as its editorial policy. Hence, the appearance of the 1941 edition of Iracema, illustrated by the artist Anita Malfatti [1889 - 1964].
Illustration by Anita Malfatti in the book Iracema (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
In the 1941 edition of Iracema, Anita Malfatti contemporizes, through her strokes and aesthetic, the founding myth of miscegenated Brazil from the Portuguese colonization and the romanticism’s dawning of the tropical grandiosity of our nature.
Page 53 of Iracema, with illustration by Anita Malfatti (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
The illustrations by Anita Malfatti compose an inventory of narratives and sensations that dialogues with José de Alencar's text. The illustrations outline natural and social landscapes of the Brazil imagined by the writer from Ceará.
Illustration by Anita Malfatti in the book Iracema (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
The strokes of Anita Malfatti’s illustrations are superlatives. They demonstrate, when imagistically composing the Indian Iracema, for example, the expressionist cubism that fostered her as an artist of Modernism in Brazil.
Print run of the book Iracema (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
The finiteness of an edition, exemplified by the colophon of the 1941 edition of Iracema, shows not only the technical records and provenance of the publication..
...but accentuates the implementation of the editorial policy of Livraria Martins Editora in conforming in its catalog the Biblioteca de Literatura Brasileira collection: dedicated to special editions destined to collectors, bibliophiles and economically establish readers.
Front matter of Iracema and Illustration by Anita Malfatti (1941) by José de AlencarBiblioteca Pública Estadual do Ceará
“Green wild seas of my homeland, where the jandaya bird sings in the fronds of the carnauba tree: green seas, which shine like liquid emerald in the rays of the rising sun, stretching the white beaches shaded by coconut palms” - José de Alencar
Ceará State Secretary for Culture
Luísa Cela
Culture Secretary
Dragão do Mar Institute
Rachel Gadelha
Chief Executive
Ceará State Public Library
Enide Vidal
Director
Suzete Nunes
Superintendent
Ana Karine Martins Garcia
Collections, Knowledge and Research Coordinator
Madalena Figueiredo, Rafael Secundino e Rejane de Souza
Rare Sector Librarians
Comunication Team
Ivy Ariane , Eri Filho, Uli Batista
Writing
Rodrigo Alves Ribeiro
Curating, Editing and Proofreading
Rodrigo Alves Ribeiro
Historian
Ana Karine Martins Garcia
Historian and Educator
Lucas Corrêa
Librarian
Madalena Herminio Carneiro
Graphic Designer and Researcher
Lucas Rodrigues
Researcher
Photos
Felipe Abud
