Les Écrits de jeunesse de Nuno Oliveira

14.5 × 24 cm 240 pages 1i black and white illustrations softback february 2021 retail price: 23 €

rights sold to italy (rai)

Cadence, légèreté, géométrie (1951-1956)

THE EARLY WRITINGS OF NUNO OLIVEIRA

Gait, lightness, geometry (1951-1956)

Nuno Oliveira Texts translated and presented by Jean Magnan de Bornier

From 1951 to 1956, Nuno Oliveira wrote over 60 articles on horses and horsemanship in two Portuguese journals: Diana from 1951-1954, then Vida rural up until late 1956. Even though Oliviera was only in his thirties, he was already an accomplished riding instructor and stable manager and had extensive experience in horsemanship. He trained at the specialist school belonging to the former chief horseman to the royal house, Joaquim Gonçalves de Miranda, and decided at a young age to devote himself to the equestrian arts and soon gained a huge reputation in Portugal in 1955. The articles, although meandering at times, always home in on the essentials of his expertise and are seminal demonstrations of his great equestrian knowledge, one of the hallmarks of his personality. Although some of these articles were reprinted in two books, one in Portugal in Breves notas sobre une arte apaixonante (a equitaçao) and the other in France in 1965, Réflexions sur l’art équestre, translated by René Bacharach, neither of these two works provides a complete collection of his essays. It was thus necessary to give readers an integral version of his work, which will enable his still imminently topical writings to be appreciated by all. His articles devoted to diagonal and lateral effects and the harmonious use of aids, for example, are jewels of equestrian literature and testimony to Oliviera’s immense ability to synthesize the theoretical debates of the discipline.

Here we present a previously unpublished translation of his unabridged articles augmented with a selection of photography from the period.