Editorial data

In the small town of Cataguases, in the Minas Gerais interior, the modernist movement found a new expression with Verde, a monthly art and culture magazine, as announced in its subtitle, in line with avant-garde ideals. With irregular monthly periodicity, the magazine saw two phases: the first started in September 1927, with five issues published until July 1928, when they launched a special issue together with a literary supplement covering the months of hiatus; the second phase returned in May 1929, with the sole special issue in honour of group member Ascânio Lopes, who had died that same year.

Known as the green group, those responsible for the publication sparked curiosity both for their youth, as they were young students just out of secondary school, and for introducing modernist ideals from Cataguases, a city of modest proportions that, at the time, accounted for around 16 thousand inhabitants and is located 300 km from the capital Belo Horizonte. During the same period, Cataguases witnessed yet another modern manifestation with Humberto Mauro, a precursor of Brazilian cinema and a colleague of the green group.

During the first phase, the direction of the magazine was attributed to Henrique de Resende and editorial duties were undertaken by Antonio Martins Mendes and Rosário Fusco. In the only installment of the next phase, Henrique de Resende, Martins Mendes, Guilhermino César, Francisco Inácio Peixoto, and Rosário Fusco took on the responsibility for directing. The editorial and administration offices of the magazine were located at Rua Cel. Vieira, 53, and printing was carried out at the A Brasileira workshop, with the exception of n.º 5, that was printed in the workshops of the newspaper Cataguases. With no official information about the magazine’s print run, we do know, thanks to correspondence, that 500 copies were printed for each issue. Prices in the first phase were 1$00 réis for single issues and 11$000 for the annual subscription, until an increase in the fifth issue that raised the price to 1$200, a hike which remained in the second phase.

Showing no major visual innovations, the graphic design of the cover evolved throughout the issues, namely by reducing the number of ornaments and details placed on blank spaces. The green stylized title and margins, with the central summary, were kept. As for iconographic material, the magazine published illustrations by Rosário Fusco and foreign artists, such as drawings and woodcuts by Argentines Maria Clemencia and Norah Borges.

The poetic contributions to the magazine are significant, and quantitatively more numerous than literary prose. Also of note are the literary criticism texts that mostly discuss the direction of the modernist movement in the national and international stages. Among its collaborators, Verde brought together several groups from the Brazilian vanguards, particularly the mineiros from A Revista and the paulistas Mário de Andrade and Antônio Alcântara Machado. In addition to these, international collaborators, such as Blaise Cendrars and authors linked to the Latin American vanguard, such as the Uruguayans Ildefonso Pereda Valdés and Nicolás Fusco Sansone, and the Argentine Marcos Fingerit, also contributed to the periodical. Thus, Verde built a wide network of cultural exchange, on the national and international scenes.

The end of Verde was justified with the death of Ascânio Lopes by his companions. However, the financial difficulties of the publication and the dispersion of the group in other activities made it difficult to continue the magazine into its second phase.

Luciana Francisco