literature about Capa

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rolleistef

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Hello,
I'm doing an essay about the way the picture of the Debarquement Capa took were used and turned the image of the war into something more "romantic" (even if it wasn't what Capa wanted to show), have you got any book suggestion to give?
Thanks a lot!
 
I would never use Wikipedia as a prime source; some entries are hopelessly inaccurate, prolonging errors corrected decades ago, and the problem is you don't know which ones!

Slightly Out Of Focus gives a great sense of the ma; Whelan's intro to the Definitive Robert Capa is good. I personally wasn't too impressed by Alex Kershaw's Blood & Champagne, it was slightly short on sources, and didn't really address his photography convincingly.
 
Recently saw the Capa retrospective "This is War!" at the Barbican in London. Got to say, Capa's work, when seen in its completeness, famous and slightly more obscure side-by-side was strangely cold and unmoving: somehow, whilst a great 'documentist', they all missed some crucial humanity.

This was brought into sharp focus by the exhibition of work by his collaborator, Gerda Taro. Her photographs, whilst of the same subject matter and taken in the same place (Spanish Civil War prior to her death) were beautiful, haunting and incredibly moving...

Sorry... rambling, but it really did come as a shock...
 
Its funny you should say that because I just checked "The Definitive Robert Capa" out from the local library. I had only been aware of his most famous photogrpahs, and when I looked through this collection I was struck by the raw immediacy of Capa's work compared with his contemporaries; whilst his images in general do not have the artists touch of others, the power and immediacy of his pictures and involving of the viewer right there into the moment of what he was shooting deeply impressed me. He did indeed follow his advice about getting up close.
Even without the "Death of a lyalist soldier" (which I concluded was a set up - after all - him and Gerga had previously invented a whole photographer forget about setting up scenes for the camera) he still was the best war photographer from the early days and well deserved his reputation I thought.
I was prepared to be disppointed but certainly wasn't.

I have tried to find something on Gerda Taro but have only come across what little there is about her on the net. No books available on her over here.

It is interesting to find out that the young darkroom assistant that melted Capa's negatives from the D Day landings was Larry Burrows! Becoming himself a figure in combat photography in Vietnam in the sixties...

I also found an interview with Cartier Bresson where he was asked if he learned much from Capa. Henri, ever the diplomat replies, "Capa was an adventurer..."
 
Robert Capa : a biography, by Richard Whelan, is a must-have. Way better than his intro of The definite collection.

I have the first 1947 printing of Slightly out of focus and while I like it a lot for what it is (a first printing of a historical book) I also know it for what it is : a romanced story in which Capa went quite far away from the reality.
 
johnastovall said:
Here is information on a major show of Greda Taro at the International Center for Photography, New York City.

The book linked above is based on that show.
Click to expand...
Indeed. And that exhibit to the best of my knowledge now forms part of a wider event at the Barbican in London: Barbican Art Gallery reflects on conflict and its visual representation. I was stunned by the Taro pictures. Apparently some of her shots got mixed in with Capa's and he was credited for her work but I think the ICP sorted it all out eventually.
 
peter_n said:
Indeed. And that exhibit to the best of my knowledge now forms part of a wider event at the Barbican in London: Barbican Art Gallery reflects on conflict and its visual representation. I was stunned by the Taro pictures. Apparently some of her shots got mixed in with Capa's and he was credited for her work but I think the ICP sorted it all out eventually.
Click to expand...

The IPC has on its site a nice two "press release" on Taro life.

I've heard about the Barbican show and would love to see it. Maybe it'll make to the U.S.
 
johnastovall said:
The IPC has on its site a nice two "press release" on Taro life.

I've heard about the Barbican show and would love to see it. Maybe it'll make to the U.S.
Click to expand...

It is well worth it - a wonderful exhibition that was far better than I was expecting, not least for introducing me to Taro; someone whose talent, eye, sensitivity and compassion IMO put Capa to shame and absolutely blew me away...
 
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Capa (AKA Andre Friedman) is a personal hero of mine. There are a few books about his life, one I ahve read recently being "Blood and Champagne." I dont know if its his nationality (Hungarian) affiliations (Jewish) his photography or his dedication to lioving life to the full but there is something about his persona that I have always found intriguing. (I have Hungarian Jewish antecedents and love photogrpahy so I guess its hard for me not to hero worship him. Combine with that the fatc that my father was something of a hard living womanising scallywag like Capa and there is a natural fit.

I like the quote about him by HCB who said of Capa in his Magnum days (rather sniffily ) we made the money - he spent it.
 
Makes you wonder why they havnt made a movie about Capa. Sort of begs for it really. The story of his life has got it all in there.

But taking note from this thread and the enthusiasm for Taro, I will try and get the book.

I did note in my reading that Capa and Taro while working as a team sold many of their pictures under both their names together. Perhaps this is where misattributation comes from.

I still find the story of the cases of lost negatives being found in Mexico city absoutely fascinating. Just when you think theres nothing new to be found in the world and youve seen it all - somebody finds a cardboard suiitcase full of Spanish civil war negatives from Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and Chim Seymour.
I still can't get over that.
 
I think it was Al Kaplan who said on this forum "never throw anything away"... It is great that Gerda Taro's enormous talent is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
peterm1 said:
I dont know if its his nationality (Hungarian) affiliations (Jewish) his photography or his dedication to lioving life to the full but there is something about his persona that I have always found intriguing.
Click to expand...
So Peter if you have that background/interest you know about Martin Munkacsi right? I went to an HCB exhibit (Scrapbook) at the ICP last year and came away marvelling at a Munkacsi show that was on at the same time. The catalog of that exhibit is out of print here in America but you can still buy it new from Amazon UK and the $ is very good against the £ at the moment. Munkacsi also had an extrovert personality and led a life that was not that different to Capa's. He was quite a character but more importantly was an absolutely brilliant photographer who really revolutionized the craft in his time. The book is fantastic!
 
rolleistef said:
Hello,
I'm doing an essay about the way the picture of the Debarquement Capa took were used and turned the image of the war into something more "romantic" (even if it wasn't what Capa wanted to show), have you got any book suggestion to give?
Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

I was sent and posted these links uder "News" which may be good for some general background, I always wonder about all the images lost that day in Normandy.

http://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

http://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html

http://www.dslrmagazine.com/estado-del-arte/publicaciones/film-und-foto-n-2.html
 
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Carlsen Highway said:
Even without the "Death of a lyalist soldier" (which I concluded was a set up - after all - him and Gerga had previously invented a whole photographer forget about setting up scenes for the camera)
Click to expand...

Not sure on what evidence you concluded the photo was a set up but many of the scholars who have studied this image in depth feel the "truth" lies somewhere in between. It seems the soldiers may have been playing around for/with the photographer and not in the heat of battle, but it was very close to the front lines, and the photo in question does represent the actual death of a soldier who was shot by an enemy sniper. Supposedly Capa felt very guilty about that. I know I should not post this info without the sources but I'm too lazy to look it up.
 
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