Ruth M. Anderson: En el Viejo Mundo / In the Old World

In 1926 Ruth Matilda Anderson, staff photographer for the Hispanic Society of America, New York, travelled throughout Spain to take pictures for their museum. The book contains a smashing collection of the photos she took during four weeks in the province of Zamora. She produced almost 650 images ranging from scenes of Holy Week to those of rural life. The work proved so fruitful that, as she later recognised, the province of Zamora had provided “the richest source so far for our kind of material.” Although she was following specific instructions from the Hispanic Society as to what to record, she demonstrated such talent that her pictures afford a remarkable glimpse of life at that time, vividly evoking this world with great humanity and artistry.