The Spanish Civil War was an event that occurred out
of Spain’s long held views “that political problems could be solved more
naturally by violence than by debate.”[1] Robert
Capa’s pictures from the Spanish Civil War are “considered the most eerily
fascinating of all war photographs.”[2] Through
his camera rather than militant action, Capa was able to challenge the
acceptability of a totalitarian regime of destruction and squalor. He was
effective in his efforts as Martha Gellhorn, the journalist, points out,
“‘Spain was the place for all free men to fight Hitler, the Nazis, and the
corrupt ideas which the Hitler imitators also practiced. [Capa] did not expect
to fight, since he had never held a rifle; he expected to take pictures which
would force everyone to see what there was to fight.’”[3]
Capa’s reaction to one particularly disturbing scene from the Spanish Civil War shows why he wanted to use his camera to capture the conduction of the devastating and harrowing scenes he was observing in Spain. He noted, “ ‘More than fifty people, women and children, most of them blinded by the light, showed their cadaverous faces stained with blood and dirt. They had spent fifteen days below ground, living in continual terror, living off the scraps of food left by the soldiers and a few sardines. Very few had the strength to get up; they had to be helped away. It is impossible to describe such a painful scene.’”[4]
Capa took one of his most famous pictures during the Spanish Civil War; it is entitled The Falling Soldier. It depicts a man falling to his death, but some say it was staged and does not depict a man about to die. Therefore, there is much debate and speculation surrounding this image.[5] Nevertheless, it “remains one of the most famous images of combat ever.”[6] It is a “haunting symbol of all the Loyalist soldiers who died in the war, and of Republican Spain itself, flinging itself bravely forward and being struck down…the picture’s greatness ultimately lies in its symbolic implications, not in its literal accuracy as a report on the death of a particular man.”[7] Furthermore, the picture “ensured that Andre Friedmann would for ever be remembered as Robert Capa, the American photographer so daring, so determined to get as close as possible to the intensity of war, that he was even able to record the very instant of a man’s death.”[8] Therefore, through the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, Capa displayed his talent for photojournalism.
[1] Paul Preston, The Spanish Civil War: An Illustrated Chronicle 1936-39 (New York: Grove Press, 1986), 9.
[2] “The Magnificent Eleven: The D-Day Photographs of Robert Capa,” Skylighters, accessed on March 17, 2014, http://www.skylighters.org/photos/robertcapa.html.
[3] Alex Kershaw, Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa (New York: DaCapo Press, 2002), 33.
[4] Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (New York: Penguin Books, 1982), 319.
[5] Kershaw, Blood and Champagne, 43-44.
[6] Larry Rohter, “New Doubts Raised over Famous War Photo,” The New York Times, published on August 17, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/arts/design/18capa.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
[7] Richard Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 97-100.
[8] Kershaw, Blood and Champagne, 47.
Capa’s reaction to one particularly disturbing scene from the Spanish Civil War shows why he wanted to use his camera to capture the conduction of the devastating and harrowing scenes he was observing in Spain. He noted, “ ‘More than fifty people, women and children, most of them blinded by the light, showed their cadaverous faces stained with blood and dirt. They had spent fifteen days below ground, living in continual terror, living off the scraps of food left by the soldiers and a few sardines. Very few had the strength to get up; they had to be helped away. It is impossible to describe such a painful scene.’”[4]
Capa took one of his most famous pictures during the Spanish Civil War; it is entitled The Falling Soldier. It depicts a man falling to his death, but some say it was staged and does not depict a man about to die. Therefore, there is much debate and speculation surrounding this image.[5] Nevertheless, it “remains one of the most famous images of combat ever.”[6] It is a “haunting symbol of all the Loyalist soldiers who died in the war, and of Republican Spain itself, flinging itself bravely forward and being struck down…the picture’s greatness ultimately lies in its symbolic implications, not in its literal accuracy as a report on the death of a particular man.”[7] Furthermore, the picture “ensured that Andre Friedmann would for ever be remembered as Robert Capa, the American photographer so daring, so determined to get as close as possible to the intensity of war, that he was even able to record the very instant of a man’s death.”[8] Therefore, through the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, Capa displayed his talent for photojournalism.
[1] Paul Preston, The Spanish Civil War: An Illustrated Chronicle 1936-39 (New York: Grove Press, 1986), 9.
[2] “The Magnificent Eleven: The D-Day Photographs of Robert Capa,” Skylighters, accessed on March 17, 2014, http://www.skylighters.org/photos/robertcapa.html.
[3] Alex Kershaw, Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa (New York: DaCapo Press, 2002), 33.
[4] Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (New York: Penguin Books, 1982), 319.
[5] Kershaw, Blood and Champagne, 43-44.
[6] Larry Rohter, “New Doubts Raised over Famous War Photo,” The New York Times, published on August 17, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/arts/design/18capa.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
[7] Richard Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), 97-100.
[8] Kershaw, Blood and Champagne, 47.