Seville, Spain in the 1950s
A short visit with old friends
Most Fridays I send out an email that features photos from the Rupert Leach Collection, snaps taken from the personal reels of View-Master’s Director of Photography in the 1940s and ‘50s. These never-before-published images show alternative shots of some commercial View-Master reels and personal photos of Leach, his wife Poppy, and others.
I try to get to the bottom of the people and places pictured within despite the limited context provided by mostly unmarked reels. Let’s dig in!
This reel is simply marked “Seville, Spain” and it features a mix of postcard and personal snaps taken by Rupert Leach in the 1955s.
View-Master produced several Spain and Seville reels back in the day. This snap captures some of the famous bulls, the toro bravo, bred for bullfights in Spain. There’s a pretty graphic Spanish Bullfighting reel packet set that was produced. You can see the cover here. Fair warning: it’s violent!
Spain is known for a long history of bullfighting and for breeding Spanish bulls. Now, this kind of “sport” goes on to this day and I find it pretty distasteful but I also eat meat so maybe I’m a hypocrite? Probably something for me to think about.
Horse-drawn carts are a popular way for tourists to see Seville’s historic center. I’m a big fan of the sharply dressed fellow checking his watch on the right side of the photo.
I did a bunch of Googling to figure this one out but my narrowing it down to an exact spot was tricky. Google did suggest it was taken around Feria de Abril, or Seville Fair, a popular annual spring event where Flamenco dresses are commonly worn. Once I lingered over this photo, I realized the water feature wasn’t as compelling as the incredible capture of the ladies and their reflections in it!
If you’ve ever been to Seville and happen to know where this was taken? Feel free to drop it in the comments!
The ladies in this photo are not named, but I’m guessing they were hosts or friends of Rupert and Poppy Leach. I love the vibrant red shirts!
It’s likely this is a photo of the Giralda, the bell tower of the Seville Cathedral. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville during the reign of the Almohad dynasty. A belfry was added by the Catholics after the expulsion of Muslims from the area. The Cathedral was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It’s been an important symbol of the city and has been since the Middle Ages.
Here’s a photo of Poppy Leach and two unidentified companions. If you know where in the world or who in the world this is? Lemme know!
Google says this is Marbella, not Seville. I honestly don’t know! Based on the photo, I get why, but I can’t say for sure. At any rate, it features several iconic elements for the region including beautiful gardens, a love fountain and a horse-drawn carriage.
And that’s it for this week’s reel! That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading along. Be sure to smash that ❤️ button so I know you’re out there and following along!
Beautiful photography! 1700 Romantic Seville is one of my favorite VM reels, and this reel augments the Sevillian-ness of that vibe.
It's no wonder that VM photogs love red, it always pops off the images.