Regards Magazine

Shortly after graduating from Leipzig's Academie fur Graphishe Kunste (Graphic Art) in 1931, David Seymour moved to Paris to further his studies at the Sorbonne. He became a freelance journalist in 1933 and engendered what were to become lasting friendships with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Chim's first formal association with a publication came in 1934, when he was hired as an unofficial staff photographer for the weekly news magazine Regards in Paris. Regards provided a springboard for the young Chim's career.

Chim's first credited photographs for this extraordinary large-format magazine were published in 1934, and during the following four years many of his most memorable and indelible images of war and its innocent, often youthful victims were produced under the auspices of Regards. Other significant photographic contributors included Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Capa's frequent companion, Gerda Taro. Regards encompassed a broad range of subjects and was highly acclaimed for its quality investigative reporting.

Factory men on strike during the Popular Front

Copyright 1998 David Seymour Estate
Chim recorded numerous scenes of the social strife which embroiled France prior to the establishment of Leon Blum's leftist Fronte Populaire in June 1936. Chim travelled with writer Georges Soria to Spain in July 1936 to cover events following the military revolt led by General Francisco Franco against the recently-elected Popular Front. Chim arranged for Capa to maintain coverage of the Fronte Populaire for Regards during his absence. Upon his return to Paris in 1937, Chim and Capa began to cover stories together. Capa's daring distinguishes his work from that of Chim, but each pursued their work with intense sensitivity and conviction. Their outspoken mutual admiration is readily apparent in the stylistic similarity of many of their photographs.

Regards served as a medium for Chim's photographs until April 1939, when he left France with a group of Republican refugees bound for Mexico at the end of the Spanish Civil War.