Melo Frazão, ilustrador (também) de António Torrado, e a renovação da edição portuguesa para a infância

Abstract

The present approach takes up and analyses five relevant children’s books by António Torrado (1939-) (one of them co-authored by Maria Alberta Menéres (1930-2019)), namely Hoje Há Palhaços (1976), Há Coisas Assim (1977), O Vizinho de Cima (1985), A Janela do Meu Relógio (1985), and Como se Vence um Gigante (1987), which have in common not only the fact of having been published in important series (“Caracol” and “a rã que ri” of Plátano Editora and “Sete estrelas” of Livros Horizonte), but also their illustrator: Fernando Melo Frazão (1932-1995). Our aim is to explain the meaning of this books in portuguese publishing panorama after Carnation Revolution (1974), taking into account the innovation of verbal text as well as visual construction, two discourses that have a semantic synergy. We attempt to elucidate some of the aesthetics singularities of Melo Frazão’s versatile, sensitive and very personal artistic work, as a fundamental contribution to the portuguese children’s literature/edition renovation.