wartime photographer-gerda taro

[MrBern]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/arts/design/22taro.html

Hopefully no one will squabble over this post on photography.

Gerda Taro was killed in the Spanish Civil war.
her boyfriend was devastated to read about it inthe paper.
He became the best war photographer of his time.

 

[Shearer]

Thanks for sharing... I loved it.

 

[Robert Conway]

She was really good. There is such energy in her pictures. It is good to see that she is finally getting the recognition she deserves.

Her loss was not only tragic for photojournalism, but also shattered Capa.

Gerda was Capa's soul mate and the love of his life. He never fully recovered from her death and it changed him as a person.

RC

PS: Thanks for the heads up MrBern. ;-)

 

[MrBern]

My Pleasure.
I hope the FL ladies will take note of the depictions of Spanish women in war

 

[imoldfashioned]

I went to this exhibit on Mr. Bern's recommendation and it is superb. If you're in the NYC area please make an effort to attend. I'm really looking forward to the day I have some time to spend in that museum generally too-it's a hidden gem.

 

[Murph351]

Very interesting read.
Thanks for the link.

 

[Sefton]

I have the book "Heart of Spain" which has that great photo of her sitting with Capa. It's good to see that her work is getting some recognition now. Heart of Spain also has more pictures of Spanish women soldiers that are quite excellent. Thanks for the post.

 

[MrBern]

SpanishCivil War negatives found

Robert Capa died thinking his SpanishCivilWar negatives were lost in Nazi Invasion of Paris.
FOUND!

The suitcase — actually three flimsy cardboard valises — contained thousands of negatives of pictures that Robert Capa, one of the pioneers of modern war photography, took during the Spanish Civil War before he fled Europe for America in 1939, leaving behind the contents of his Paris darkroom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/arts/design/27kenn.html

“This really is the holy grail of Capa work,” said Brian Wallis, the center’s chief curator, who added that besides the Capa negatives, the cracked, dust-covered boxes had also been found to contain Spanish Civil War images by Gerda Taro, Robert Capa’s partner professionally and at one time personally, and by David Seymour, known as Chim, who went on to found the influential Magnum photo agency with Capa.

 

[Fletch]

Well I'll be.

:eusa_clap What a miraculous find!!!

It's at moments like this that one gets to wondering what else may be out there...things we've known about for decades, but always thought were lost forever...or things we never knew about at all.

 

[MrBern]

Sadly, this speaks of the plight of so many Jews who lost possessions in Europe & never hoped to recover them.

I'm just hoping that these negatives do vindicate Capa's position as a pre-eminent war photog. If its proven that the images were faked or not his, that would truly sad for his legacy.

 

[Retro Rob]

The Falling soldier is real.

 

[Vintage Betty]

What an amazing story. I look forward to learning more about how these negatives ending up in Mexico.

Thank you for posting this.

Vintage Betty

 

[MrBern]

The Falling soldier is real.

Hopefully so.
But that wont stop speculation that the shot was faked, or that Taro really shot it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Borrell_Garc??a

 

[MrBern]

What an amazing story. I look forward to learning more about how these negatives ending up in Mexico.

Thank you for posting this.

Vintage Betty

I like this quote from th story

“It does seem strange in retrospect that there weren’t more efforts to locate these things,” Mr. Wallis said. “But I think they just gave them up. They were lost in the war, like so many things.”

There was a similar quote in the recent story on the War Correspondent ErniePyle. A retired naval officer found an obscure photo of Pyle's body:

“I was surprised to find a picture of Ernie Pyle,” he said. “At the time, Ernie’s widow was still alive and I considered sending the photo to her, but had mixed feelings about it. In the end I did nothing.”

I supposed people were eager to put the war behind them & chalk up the losses to fate.

 

[MrBern]

The Mexican Suitcase

A more recent article on the Mexican Suitcase found last year

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/arts/design/30capa.html

What the center’s scholars have found among the 126 rolls over the last several months are a number of previously unknown shots by Capa...But more surprising has been the wealth of new work by Seymour, known as Chim, that was in the cases.

A shot of a woman and child at a Spanish refugee camp in France, taken by Robert Capa in March 1939.

 

[Doug C]

I know very little of Capa (Taro for that matter), but am wanting to see his work - since his name comes up so often here.. is there a particular book of his photographs I should look out for?

Doug C

 

[JennyLou]

Thank you for posting it. I liked the article. Do you know how I could see more of her work? Any books or websites?

 

[MrBern]

I know very little of Capa (Taro for that matter), but am wanting to see his work - since his name comes up so often here.. is there a particular book of his photographs I should look out for?

Doug C

He's most famously know for his Dday photos of Omaha Beach, but in general he did many great war shots, including the Allied Drop into Sicily and the Spanish Civil war photography.
Wiki plenty of info for you to look thru
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa

heres some work exhibited by ICP:
http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.3569587/k.3EA4/This_Is_War_Robert_Capa_at_Work.htm

 

[MrBern]

Thank you for posting it. I liked the article. Do you know how I could see more of her work? Any books or websites?

she died too young
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerda_Taro

Heres the link to the ICP show, they should be selling a companion book as well.
http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.3571231/k.1E57/Gerda_Taro.htm

 

[MrBern]

a new book disputing this photo

The Falling soldier is real.

Well theres a new dispute

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/arts/design/18capa.html

In “Shadows of Photography,” José Manuel Susperregui, a communications professor at the Universidad del País Vasco, concludes that Capa’s picture was taken not at Cerro Muriano, just north of Córdoba, but near another town, about 35 miles away. Since that location was far from the battle lines when Capa was there, Mr. Susperregui said, it means that “the ‘Falling Soldier’ photo is staged, as are all the others in the series taken on that front.”

In the book Mr. Susperregui also dwells on what he regards as other contradictions in the received account. He notes, for example, that Capa spoke in various interviews of the militiaman being felled by a burst of machine-gun fire, not a sniper’s bullet, and that the photographer also offered widely varying accounts of the vantage point and technique he employed to obtain the “Falling Soldier” photograph and another, almost identical image shortly afterward.