Gimnasio López, de Sevilla

Unknown|Luis Léon Masson

ca. 1875 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

Graphically precise and uncannily still, the ropes and bars suspended here are not industrial tools or implements of torture—at least not in the conventional sense. This photograph shows one of the first modern gyms in Seville, built as a fad for physical fitness swept Europe. Reviving classical equations of mental and bodily health, theorists endorsed “hygienic” exercise and education. The trend was slow to reach Seville, but gymnast Emilio Salvador López Gómez championed the cause in his native city, and began opening gyms like this one in the 1870s. Unlike most photographs from the movement, this methodical view is absent of athletes. Mirroring the camera’s watchful eye, a clock in the distance counts out the intervals of the gymnasts’ unseen exertions.

Artist

Unknown|Luis Léon Masson

Date

ca. 1875

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005