Robert Capa: War Photographs

Robert Capa is known to all as one of the greatest war photographers of the 20th century.

But, this name was nothing more than a pseudonym, a "cover" that hid the desire to succeed and raise awareness in a society depleted by fascism, war and inequality.

So who was hiding behind the myth of Robert Capa? What was he trying to convey through his photographs?

Let's get to know the most emblematic images of Robert Capa and discover the great enigma of the genius of war photojournalism.

Spanish civil war: the cradle of a myth

Robert Capa hid two names, one male and one female. Endre Ernő Friedmann and Gerda Taro created, during the Spanish civil war, this alias with which they signed their photos until the end of their days.

Their avid spirits made them want to show all the effects of war on ordinary citizens. As one more, they were willing to die and risked their lives many times, but with the camera as their only weapon.

They used photography as a universal language to show the world the other side of the war: the effects of the conflict on the weakest population.

Unfortunately, the same place that gave birth to the myth was in charge of diminishing it. The young Gerda Taro was a victim of the Civil War and died in the front line of combat, taking with her a part of Robert Capa.

During the Spanish civil war, Capa was on the battlefields, he witnessed the horror of the bombings in different cities and accompanied those seeking refuge outside the borders.

On the battlefield

One of the missions of Robert Capa (Gerda and Endre) was to cover the race from the Republican side.

In this context, one of the most famous landmarks in war photography emerged, as well as the most controversial. More than 80 years after the war, "Death of a militiaman" continues to confront experts who doubt whether or not it is a montage.

It shows how a soldier vanishes on the battlefield when he is intercepted by a bullet.

The subject of the photograph is one more number that falls on a vast field of cereal that symbolizes nothingness. A dejected body in which the "natural" light falls and lets a shadow guess behind it, as if welcoming death.

The escape between bombs

During the war, Robert Capa became one more combatant. He witnessed and was immersed in bombardments. In this way he wanted to show the world the horrors of the conflict.

In some of the most iconic photographs of him, he revealed the population dodging bombs during air strikes. They stand out for their jitter and blur. They connote the turmoil of the moment and convey the sensation of escape to the viewer.

Generally, they are images of an informative nature that stage the horror and permanent tension to which He was facing the population when the sound of an alarm warned that they should flee in search of a safe place.

In search of a refuge

Capa captured the refugee odyssey like never before. A topic that has not been in the past. If today he could show us the world through his goal, he would also show us despair. Because his images of refugees, although they seem distant in time, are closer than ever.

He wanted to reach the viewer by exposing one of the saddest faces of the conflict. They are photographs in which anguish and despair can be guessed on the faces of the protagonists.

From war to war

If your photos are not good enough it is because you have not gotten close enough.

These statements by Capa reaffirm his professionalism as a war photographer. They also define this photographic series very well, known as "the magnificent 11", taken from the "bowels" of the battlefield.

After the Spanish Civil War, Endre Ernő Friedmann, under the pseudonym Robert Capa, covers World War II and leaves for posterity a magnificent report of what is known as D-day, which took place on June 6, 1944 on the beaches of Normandy.

The images show the horror. They stand out for imperfect framing, camera shake but, despite everything, they are photographs balanced in which destroyed soldiers and ships appear floating in the water next to bodies fainted.

After D-day, Robert Capa was “officially” dead for 48 hours, during which it was believed that he had not survived the massacre.

A dream "fulfilled"

On some occasion, Capa confessed that one of his greatest wishes was "to be an unemployed war photojournalist."

After the end of World War II, he was able to see his dream come true. After a period of "peace", he founded in 1947 the well-known photography agency Magnum Photos together with other photographers. At this stage the subject matter of his photographs alternated between war and the artistic world.

Between 1948 and 1950, Capa documented Israel's war of independence and, consequently, waves of immigration and refugee camps. Together with the writer Irwin Shaw he created a book entitled "Report on Israel", with photos by Robert and text by Irwin.

Then, in 1954, he documented what would be his last experience as a photographer: the Indochina War.

On May 25, 1954, his last “shot” took place. That day, Endre Friedmann was killed by a landmine. Along with him also left the myth of Robert Capa and left as a heritage to the world thousands of stories told with light.

Robert Capa biography

Endre Ernõ Friedmann and Gerda Taro hid under the stage name Robert Capa.

Endre, of Jewish descent, was born in Hungary on October 22, 1913. During his teens he began to show his interest in photography.

In 1929 the political situation in his country led him to migrate after being captured while participating in a demonstration against the fascist regime. He first he fled to Berlin and later to Paris, where he got a job as a reporter and carried out a stolen report on Leon Trotsky. He was also in charge of covering the Popular Front mobilization in Paris.

In 1932 he met Gerda Pohorylle, alias Gerda Taro. A photographer and war journalist born in 1910 in Germany into a Jewish family, she decides to go to Paris with the arrival of the Nazis to power.

Soon Endre and Gerda begin a romantic relationship. Because their life as photographers did not provide for their needs, they decided to invent the Robert Capa brand, a pseudonym they used to sell their images. Gerda was in charge of representing Robert Capa, a supposed rich and famous American photographer.

With the outbreak of the Spanish civil war both moved to Spain to cover the war and signed as Robert Capa, being difficult to differentiate which photos were of each.

On July 26, 1937 Gerda died on the battlefield while working and Endre continued to work under the Robert Capa brand until the day of his death in May 1954.