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David Seymour’s Coverage of the Spanish Civil War

Magnum co-founder David Seymour's extensive documentation of the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939

David Seymour

David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Soldiers of the International Brigades during the farewell ceremony. Barcelona, Spain. October 28, 1938. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Battle of the Ebro river. Spain. 1938. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War A committee of peasants saluting, with their fists, militias leaving to join the forces in Madrid. Extremadura, Spain. 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Pilots resting in open country near their Polikarpov aircraft. Spain. 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War The fate of Republican prisoners by Pro-Franco war criminals. Beheading prisoners was a common practice in both sides. Historian Michel Lefevbre said this is a photograph taken during the Rif war i (...)
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Pilot in a Polikarpov aircraft. Spain, 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Republicans helping farmers. Basques, Spain. 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Miners play an important role in the Republic's economy, where slogans such as 'Save the Production' pervade. Asturia region, Spain. 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War The revolt of the pro Franco officers was silenced by Republican marines who founded a Committee on the battleship 'Jaime 1'. Port of Cartagena, Spain. July, 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Woman nursing a baby at a land reform meeting near Badajoz. Extremadura, Spain. 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Arson of churches and monasteries was common during the first days of the Republic. Militias were created in order to preserve the artistic and cultural heritage of Spain from primal anti-clerical (...)
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War The canon fires in celebration of silencing the pro Franco revolt by Republican marines. Murcia region, Spain. July, 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Spanish General Jose Miaja Menant, loyal to the Republican Army, hero of the Madrid resistance in 1936. Spain. 1936. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War The CNT National Spanish Confederation of Labour banner calls everyone to work hard and with verve. The provinces overpowered by the Franquist rebels could no longer participate in the Republican w (...)
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Under the autonomous government of Euzkadi no-one ever took notice of the Condor Legion (German air force sent by Hitler to support Franco) which would one day destroy Guernica and bomb extensively (...)
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Parade of soldiers belonging to the People's army. Minorca is the only island that remains loyal to the Republic. Spain. 1938. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos
David Seymour | Spanish Civil War Not all the water pipes are cut off despite the Italo-German air force bombings. Barcelona, Spain. 1938. © David Seymour | Magnum Photos

In 1935, David ‘Chim’ Seymour became the Spanish correspondent for Regards magazine, a leftist news publication. He covered the Spanish Civil War until the final defeat of the Spanish Republican Army by Franco’s Nationalists in 1938. Seymour’s work from this period includes portraits of government leaders, soldiers preparing for battle, the poverty of peasants, workers in factories and the terror of the war experienced by the Basques.

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