Robert Capa

Research Essay

More than a man of flesh and bone, Robert Capa emerged like a fictional character. Created by

two young Jewish photographers, both refuges, with the intention of reinventing their self, due

to the little attention that the work of both was receiving. Her name was Gerta Pohorylle, a

leftist, and his was Endre Friedmann, an anti-fascist. It all started in Paris on 1934. First let's

talk about the man, because at the end he lived more as this personage than according with his

real identity.

Born on 1913 in Budapest, Hungary, even at his early life he was already a politicized

individual. Friedmann actively participated in demonstrations and protests during 1931 against

the Hungarian regime, reason why he was exiled from his native country. The artist Lajos

Kassak, his compatriot, had a major influence in his political beliefs and creative intentions.

According to the historian Richard Whelan, “Kassak formulated a political philosophy that was

democratic, egalitarian, pacifistic, semi-collectivist, pro-labor, anti-authoritarian, and anti-

fascist, with a strong emphasis on the dignity of man and the rights of the individual in society.

Bandi (Endre’s nickname) was to adopt this liberal, undogmatic philosophy and to maintain it

for the rest of his life”1. Thus, he settles in Berlin and starts studying journalism in the Deutsche

Hochschute für Politik. At this time the great depression affected his family, so he had to leave

school. In consequence, he got a job as the delivery boy and assistant in the leading

photography agency Dephot thanks to a friend. Here began his journey. Endre already knew

what he wanted, so he also performed tasks in the photo lab and was constantly looking for an

opportunity to develop his own photography.

1
Whelan, Richard. Robert Capa: A Biography. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1986), 16.
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 As a result of the establishment of Nazism in 1933 he was forced to leave Berlin and

went into another exile, now in Paris. Influenced by André Kertész’s photographic style, he

commenced shooting his first reportages in the French city. During this time he covered many

varied subjects. For example, a conference of the also exiled Trotsky in Copenhagen.

Friedmann’s style got a particular essence and configuration that consisted in direct photo

reports and the individual face as leading point. He was a photographer determined in capturing

the action produced by the human passion, committed to sneak between people without fear so

he could get the best picture. These qualities accompanied him in the future during his war

cover. Here he also got to know, David “Chim” Seymour and Henri Cartier-Bresson, his future

friends and café companions, with which he later founded Magnum in 1947, an agency of

independent photographers where they finally would be owners of their work, being able to

sell it to the paper or magazine they wished.

Suddenly, the most important moment of his life happened and all began with a picture:

he was introduced to the love of his life. In 1934 Friedmann was designated to take some

publicity pictures for a Swiss company. The first task consisted in looking for a model, reason

why he approached Ruth Cerf in a coffee shop. She agreed to pose for the winsome

photographer in a park, but felt sort of skeptical. Hence, the young lady assisted with a friend:

Gerta Pohorylle, an extrovert and self-assured German redhead, petit on the outside but

certainly owner of an intricate and standout personality. “So begins the most iconic relationship

in the history of photography, and an intertwined and complex story of radical politics,

bohemianism and bravery that, in the intervening years, has taken on the shadings of a modern

myth”2.

2
O'Hagan, Sean. "Robert Capa and Gerda Taro: Love in a Time of War." The Guardian, May
13, 2012. Accessed November 27, 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/13/robert-capa-gerda-taro-
relationship.
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 As a couple, Gerta understood that it was necessary to develop a new strategy, because

the economic situation of both was becoming precarious and the sale of their negatives got

difficult. After analyzing the situation, they invented an American photographer of

international fame to increase the price of their work who didn’t wanted to be seen by anyone:

Robert Capa. Also, she changed her name to Gerda Taro and, taking the role of her agent, began

to spread the big farce throughout Paris. The effort paid off quickly and from one moment to

the next Endre started using expensive suits, while Taro concentrated on her progress as a

photographer.

The pleasure of living the lie lasted little and public opinion discovered them. Although

both shoot the photos, developing at the same time an aesthetic that remains in force, Endre

was the one who took the name once and forever, becoming one of the most relevant characters

in war photojournalism. Since both had a strong political conviction about the far-right

spreading and its way of fighting was using the camera as a weapon, they traveled to Spain in

1936 to cover the Civil War, where they made the world witness of the people’s resistance

against the nascent fascism that later would desolate all Europe, showing the direct effects of

the massacre over the population. In Córdoba, they would realized the most famous image of

the war: The Falling Soldier. Controversial photo and maybe a montage, but that's another

discussion. The following year Gerda died in Madrid crushed by a Republican tank that had

lost control amid an army’s withdrawal. She was 27 years old. The city of her exile, Paris,

dismissed her as a heroine with a highly attended funeral. A part of Capa went with Taro.

His next stops: The Second Sino-Japanese War in China and subsequently the World

War II. On this last matter, Capa didn’t hesitate a moment in accompanying the Allies soldiers.

However, due to bureaucratic issues he waited until the American participation happened so

he could join the front. It may be that the war is so frightful, dark, that someone must show it

through the light of the human spirit. Among his most relevant photos, we can certainly

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mention those that resulted from the first landing at Omaha Beach during the Battle of

Normandy, where he successfully captured the images of one of the most important events

throughout this major war. Robert Capa covered a total of five: the Spanish Civil War, Second

Sino-Japanese, the World War II, the bellicose conflicts consequence of the recently formed

State of Israel and the Indochina War, which would be his last. In the course of an expedition

through the field with the army, he chose to split from the group in search of possible shoots

with his camera. Suddenly, a loud rumble; he had stepped on a mine. Nothing could be done,

it was the end of a legend, the man than lived his own fiction with such a realness that was able

to go down history first as a fiction then as a man. And what an intense man.

 Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

2017.

 Rogoyska, Jane. Gerda Taro: Inventing Robert Capa. London: Jonathan Cape, 2013.

 Capa, Robert. Slightly Out of Focus. New York: Modern Library, 2001.

 Whelan, Richard. Robert Capa: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books, 1986.

 O'Hagan, Sean. "Robert Capa and Gerda Taro: Love in a Time of War." The Guardian,

May 13, 2012. Accessed November 27, 2018.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/13/robert-capa-gerda-taro-

relationship.