Robert Capa

On December 3, 1938, Picture Post introduced “The Greatest War-Photographer in the World: Robert Capa” with a spread of 26 photographs taken during the Spanish Civil War. But the “greatest war-photographer” hated war. Born Andre Friedmann to Jewish parents in Budapest in 1913, he studied political science at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin. Capa settled in Paris in 1933 after being driven out of Germany by the threat of a Nazi regime.

He was represented by Alliance Photo and met the journalist and photographer, Gerda Taro. Together, they invented Robert Capa, the “famous” American photographer, and began to sell his prints under that name. He met Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway, and formed friendships with fellow photographers, David “Chim” Seymour and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

From 1936 onward, Capa’s coverage of the Spanish Civil War appeared regularly. His picture of a Loyalist soldier who had just been fatally wounded earned Capa his international reputation and became a powerful symbol of war.

After Taro, who had become his professional partner and companion, was killed in Spain, Capa traveled to China in 1938 and emigrated to New York a year later. As a correspondent in Europe, he photographed the Second World War, covering the landing of American troops on Omaha beach on D-Day, the liberation of Paris, and the Battle of the Bulge.

In 1947, Capa was the driving force behind the founding of Magnum Photos. On May 25, 1954, he was photographing for Life in Thai-Binh, Indochina, when he stepped on a landmine and was killed. The French army awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm posthumously. The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award was established in 1955 to reward exceptional professional merit.