Sunday, 14 February 2010

David Seymour 'puzzle'

I have been puzzled for some time by the photo by David Seymour (known as 'Chim') entitled 'Land Distribution Meeting in Estremadura, 1936' which became one of his most famous Spanish Civil War shots. It shows a group of women, mostly with babes in arms, looking up as if to the heavens. Strangely, as indicated in the text book 'Photography: A Concise History' by Ian Jeffrey, and elsewhere, this photograph is sometimes called 'Air Raid Over Barcelona, 1938' (or, sometimes, 1936).

I have been unable to unravel the reason for the use of this picture to depict two different events in completely different parts of Spain or whether David Seymour himself revised the title to that of 'Air Raid Over Barcelona', although he was based in Barcelona in 1938. It may well be the case of a photograph of a lesser known event being used as a stock photograph of something more dramatic i.e. an air-raid. It does seem to me unlikely that the women would stand passively by with their children should an actual air-raid be taking place.

I will continue to try and unravel the puzzle.

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