Robert Capa Research Paper

Robert Capa was born in Budapest, Hungary as ‘Andre Friedman’ (ICP.org). During his teenage years, Capa was accused of ‘alleged communist sympathies,’ so he fled Hungary and moved to Berlin, where he would enroll in college. In college, he studied journalism and political science, while working part-time as a darkroom assistant.  In Berlin, he witnessed the rise of Hitler, which caused him to move to Paris, change his name, and become a photojournalist. (“Robert Capa,” 2017)

His first published work as a photojournalist: “The Meaning of the Russian Revolution,” was of Soviet politician Leon Trotsky, in 1932. (“Robert Capa,” 2017) He went on to cover five separate wars including the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1936, Capa traveled to Spain with his companion Gerda Taro, whom would sadly become the first female photographer to die in war, (“Gerda Taro: Inventing Robert Capa,” 2013). There, Capa managed to capture his most famous single image, “Death of a Loyalist Soldier,” which was said to capture the death of a Republican soldier, however,  recent evidence has shed some doubts on this photos location and even the validity of the photo itself (“Faking Soldier,” 2009). Regardless, this famous image was the catalyst to Capa’s  illustrious career as a war photojournalist.

When World War II began, Capa moved to America and began to work freelance for Life magazine. (ICP.org) Capa was the only “enemy alien,” war photojournalist for the Allies, meaning that Capa was the only one documenting the war for the Allies, while his native land fought for the other side. During the American Invasion of Sicily in 1943, he captured a notable photograph of Sicilian peasant near Castle Sperlinga. The image depicted a Sicilian citizen, overjoyed to see allied forces after a German bombing, pointing in the direction that the German forces had gone. This image would become a popular symbol for Italy’s liberation from the Nazis by allied forces. (“Robert Capa,” 2017)

Capa’s most famous series of pictures, known as “The Magnificent Eleven,” would come during the Normandy landings on Omaha Beach June 6^th 1944, commonly referred to as ‘D-Day’. Capa was the only photojournalist to land on Omaha beach that day. Under constant fire, he managed to take 106 photographs on that day, but unfortunately due to an accident during the emulsion of the film, only eleven of those photos were able to be developed . Another notable photograph Capa took during the war was, “The Picture of the Last Man to Die,” which captured the fight for a bridge in Leipzig, Germany, on April 2^nd 1924.  The photograph he took that would later go on to become a famous spread in Life magazine, featured the death of Pfc. Raymond J. Bowman, from sniper fire (“Robert Capa,” 2017).

In 1954, while working on an assignment for Life magazine in Southeast Asia, Robert Capa was killed when he stepped on a landmine. He was there trying to capture images of the First Indochina War, where the French were fighting a Vietnamese group known as the Viet Minh. Capa was 40 years old, but his legacy as war photojournalist and the images he captured will last forever.

 

(credit: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/general-theodore-roosevelt-jr-left-chief-american-liason-officer-with-the-2nd)

(credit: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/republican-soldiers-shooting-in-the-trenches-madrid)

 

(credit: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/altalena-tel-aviv)

 

 

References:

Robert Capa. (2017, July 16). Retrieved September 24, 2017, from https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/robert-capa?all%2Fall%2Fall%2Fall%2F1

International Center of Photography (ICP.org)

Robert Capa. (2017, September 16). Retrieved September 24, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa

Service, M. F. (2009, July 21). Faking Soldier: The photographic evidence that Capa’s camera DOES lie… and that his iconic ‘Falling Soldier’ was staged. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201116/How-Capas-camera-does-lie-The-photographic-proof-iconic-Falling-Soldier-image-staged.html

Rogoyska, J. (2013). Gerda Taro: inventing Robert Capa. London: Jonathan Cape.