Science Fair Project Encyclopedia

Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Contents Page

Categories: 1913 births | 1954 deaths | Magnum photographers | Hungarian photographers

Robert Capa

Robert Capa (1913 - May_25, 1954) born Ernest Andrei Friedmann in Budapest. Capa was possibly the most famous war photographer of the 20th century. Robert Capa covered five different wars: the Spanish civil war, the Japanese invasion of China, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War. The course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, the Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach and at the liberation of Paris are all famously documented by Capa.

Capa began his career in the 1930s as a small time photographer. Capa moved from Germany to France in 1933. While living in France he found it difficult to find work as a freelance journalist. While there he adopted the name Robert Capa, as one that would be almost recognizable and sound familiar, since it was close to the film maker Frank Capra's name and sounded American. He would often find himself in the middle of key historic events. From 1936 to 1939, he was all over Spain photographing the horrors the Spanish Civil War brought to the civilians. In 1936 he became known across the globe for a photo he took on the Cordoba Front of a Loyalist Militiaman, Federico Borrell García, who had just been shot and was in the act of falling to his death.

World War II would bring Capa all around the world photographing first for Collier's Weekly and later for Life Magazine. At the time he was hired he was a citizen of Greater Nazi Germany, but he was also Jewish.

His most famous work was done on June 6th, 1944 (D-Day) where he swam up on the beaches like all the other soldiers that day, but instead of being armed with a gun, he was armed with a camera. Technical difficulties (widely regarded as stemming from mistakes made by Capa's assistant) led to improper development and blurry images. Only a handful of images survived from the entire shoot; but these images well represented the difficult struggles in the landing of D-Day.

Normandy Invasion

In 1947 Capa, founded Magnum Photos. His fellow early workers there included Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour, George Rodger and William Vandivert . In 1951 he became the president.

Apart from his reputation as a photographer, Capa was also known as a gambler and socialite. One of his most famous affairs was with Ingrid Bergman, only publicized many years later in her autobiography.

In the early 1950's Capa traveled to Japan for an exhibition associated with Magnum Photos. While there Life Magazine asked him to go on assignment to Southeast Asia, where the French had been fighting for 8 years in the First Indochina War. Capa accompanied a French regiment and on May 25th, 1954 at 2:55PM, the regiment passed through a dangerous area in deep forests. It was at this time that Capa stepped on a landmine, abruptly ending his glorious but all too brief career.

The song "Kamikaze Cappa" was written by the Austrian pop-star Falco in 1986 as a tribute to the late Robert Capa.

Contents