User:Munfarid1/sandbox6

River Spirit is a 2023 historical novel by Leila Aboulela.

Critical reception
In his introduction to the bilingual catalogue of the exhibition In the lands of Extremadura: Ruth Matilda Anderson's photographs of western Spain for the Hispanic Society, Patrick Lenaghan, current Head Curator of Prints and Photographs at the HSA, discussed both the underlying assumptions as well as the scope, quality and reception of Anderson's photographs. In Lenaghan's view, Anderson saw her images as mere visual documents of Spain, but the attention they have found after her death through exhibitions and publications have lent another quality to them. This, in turn, led him to inquire about the interpretion of her works: "are they a glimpse of the past, works of art, or visual records of one woman's adventures in Spain? Any answer involves both broad assumptions about the nature of photography and the particular details of her case, above all how her work resembles comparable examples and the context in which she worked. As she shot routine events with a close attention to detail, yet framed them in carefully constructed compositions, she drew on both documentary and artistic traditions."

According to Lenaghan, her photographic work "reflects an unswerving faith in photographs as visual evidence and, in this regard, resembles the motivations behind the formation of several anthropological archives at this time. [...] As a result, the photographs in the Hispanic Society comprise not only an invaluable resource for researchers, but also a significant definition of the nation in pictures. Anderson's work and the entire project of assembling such an archive thus present another chapter in the long running debate of what Spain is with, in this case, a contribution offered up by an admiring outsider."

Further, he wrote that "many of her representations of individuals, particularly those of mothers and children, reflect an engaging and personal sympathy for the sitter. Throughout her work, she responded positively to the Spaniards she met and she imbued her images with a quiet dignity that makes them so impressive."

He compared Anderson's photographic work to the documentary project for the U.S. Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the 1930s and 40s, as both aimed at a representation of rural life.

On the beginnings of her first photographic mission, her father wrote in his diary on February 14, 1925:

"It makes Ruth feel just a little discouraged to see such marvelous pictures bought from [Arxiu] Mas [a photo archive] of Barcelona and she wonders if she will ever be able to make anything like them. But she has not been at this very long. When she started off for Spain, she knew practically nothing about the kind of work that we are now doing. Her experience had been in a studio and copying pictures in the Museum."

"If her father helped her overcome many practical difficulties of field photography, the Clarence H. White School contributed significantly to her formal training. Anderson's work made immediately after her graduation reflects the precepts she had learned there. Stylistically, a "pictorialist" tendency towards dramatic compositions predominates in her earliest photographs of Galicia. Similarly, her portraits of people, whether of a young milkmaid or a "sea wolf," often have an immediacy that suggests both their personality and the environment which they in habit. Admittedly, she made these photographs as records of places and people which she considered typical of a genuine Spain and not as pure aesthetic expressions."

"In her search for photographs, Anderson demonstrated an impressive determination and resourcefulness. Working meticulously, a more clinical objectivity began to pervade her work. Her appreciation of visual possibilities, however, had not abandoned her. Her photographs of Extremadura, such as those of the factories producing olive oil, demonstrate an impressive sense of presence, and in a few cases, the overtly dramatic vein of her earlier work reappears. Similarly, many of her representations of individuals, particularly those of mothers and children, reflect an engaging and personal sympathy for the sitter. Throughout her work, she responded positively to the Spaniards she met and she imbued her images with a quiet dignity that makes them so impressive."

"All of these factors, from the broadest questions of the study of photography to the details of her training and the Hispanic Society's program, affect the interpretation of Anderson's pictures. Because her campaign of 1928 in Extremadura presents an exemplary encapsulation of her work in Spain, it affords an ideal opportunity to study her photographs. The expedition includes a range of distinctive images that provide a coherent glimpse of the region and since she took them over the course of an intense, but limited, period, they have an internal unity."

"Whereas her images and the entire project aspired to be an impartial record of the "real Spain," the undertaking inevitably operated with several assumptions as to what constituted this authentic document. These premises shaped the project and gave it a distinctive character. As a result, the photographs in the Hispanic Society comprise not only an invaluable resource for researchers but also a significant definition of the nation in pictures. Anderson's work and the entire project of assembling such an archive thus present another chapter in the long running debate of what Spain is with, in this case, a contribution offered up by an admiring outsider.

As she returned throughout the 1920s, her style and approach evolved: even while she continued to compose her shots

THE HISPANIC SOCIETY AND OTHER PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES

Anderson's work marks a significant achievement in the history of documentary photographs of Spain. In particular, the way she embraced the aims of the Hispanic Society distinguishes her work. Because her images reflect not only her individual talent, but also Huntington's goals for his museum, her pictures require evaluation not only of her skill, but also of the institution's project. Huntington's desire to assemble a photographic archive

An examination of Anderson's pictures reveals how markedly she shaped the material, using her skill to present it effectively, often with greater impact for making it appear so natural. Moreover, her work results from extensive planning and the energetic execution of a meticulously con ceived program. In this regard, she draws on both documentary and artistic traditions of photography. Although such claims have been made for many photographers, her images strike a characteristic balance be tween the two poles. On the one hand, her literalness differs from pictures taken by her contemporaries working for the FSA who imbued scenes with such strong visual qualities that the subject transcends its immediate context and becomes archetypal in a way few of Anderson's do. Compared, however, with the works of field anthropologists or other professionals who ventured into the same remote Spanish regions she did, her pictures have a quiet and powerful visual quality.

Elsewhere in Europe, others created photographic archives along less idiosyncratic lines. One of these, the Arxiu Mas, which Adolf Mas (1861-1936) founded in Barcelona in 1900, also served as a model for the Hispanic Society when Anderson made her first trips to Spain, it was in full operation and she purchased numerous pictures from it for the Hispanic Society. The two institutions enjoyed a cordial relationship, which their respective directors, Huntington and José Gudiol, worked carefully to foster. Holding images of social life, art, and architecture, Arxiu Mas resembles the Hispanic Society's collection in its scope and focus. Over the years, the Hispanic Society acquired numerous photographs from Mas as it pursued its program to document Spain's art and culture."

[Review of Spanish Costume: Extremadura, by R. M. Anderson].

This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. It is beautifully printed and bound, illustrated with nearly four hundred remarkably good black-and-white photo- graphs, and written with a distinction and scholarship that match the sumptuousness of the format. Miss Anderson is a member of the staff of The Hispanic Society and she has supplemented all the data available to her in the Society's files by two visits to Extremadura during which she and Frances Spalding, also a member of the staff, recorded with photographs and words not only the costumes and the folk-arts but also the local color and his- tory and characteristics of the cities, towns, and countryside of this relatively unknown Spanish province. Walsh, D. D. (1952). Hispania, 35(1), 125–125. https://doi.org/10.2307/332867