Eyes of the World Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and the Invention of Modern Photojournalism

by Desconhecido

  174 “with a mop on photographic paper”: Lefebvre and Lebrun, “Where Does the Mexican Suitcase Come From?” p. 80.

  176 “terrible battle under a burning July sun”: Buckley, The Life and Death of the Spanish Republic, p. 326.

  177 “in an alcove in a corner”: Allen, prologue to Capa, Death in the Making.

  178 “When one isn’t in Madrid”: Allen, prologue.

  181 “guessed that Death danced with us”: Freundlich, The Traveling Years, p. 53.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  183 “The fascists brought their airplanes”: Szurek, p. 158.

  184 “We ran in advances”: David McKelvy White in Hochschild, p. 228.

  185 But in leading the charge against the rebels on Mosquito Ridge, Law is mortally wounded: See Appendix B.

  185 “There, behind the dark, flashing cloud”: Barea, pp. 681–682.

  186 “We saw tough guys”: David McKelvy White in Hochschild, p. 228.

  187 “If we ever do get out of this”: From Ce Soir, July 29, 1937, in Rogoyska, p. 212; Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography, p. 122.

  188 “really the only way”: Marc Ribecourt, in Rogoyska, p. 225.

  189–194 The account of Taro’s last hours and death draws largely on Ted Allan’s unpublished memoir, Ted Allan: A Partial Biography, at normanallan.com. Allan was the only person with Taro during the Brunete battle, and the single source for the dialogue comes from him. However, scholars have questioned Allan’s account, since he was in love with Taro and believed they would leave for Canada together and get married. That was his wish, fantasy, or perhaps something concocted out of flirtatious hints she dropped. He did admit in later interviews that he did not always understand the dynamics between Capa and Taro. (See note on copain, text p. 123, note p. 278) While it is irresistible to use the dialogue he recorded, readers should treat it as an interested party’s retrospective evocation of the moment, not a word-perfect transcript. We have tried to draw only the most essential moments from his description. The description of Taro at the hospital derives from an account by the nurse, Irene Goldin Spiegel, interviewed by Irme Schaber in Vienna, Sept. 12, 2000, and another interview with her by Alex Kershaw.

  189 “I must get some good pictures”: Ted Allan, “Gerda,” Ted Allan: A Partial Biography.

  190 And so they push on: Allan, “Gerda.”

  190 “Of all the days to come!”: Allan, “Gerda.”

  191 “fast, ugly arrow-heads”: Hemingway, p. 87.

  191 “Have you ever been under fire?”: Allan, “Gerda.”

  191 “pictures of the dust”: Allan, “Gerda.”

  192 “Tonight we’ll have a farewell party”: Rogoyska, p. 22; Allan, “Gerda.”

  194 “Did someone take care of my cameras?”: Schaber, p. 209.

  194 A French journalist, Mlle. Tarot: Vaill, p. 229.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  197 Then the brother swings: Vaill, p. 230.

  198 “I could not forget Gerda Taro”: Rogoyska, p. 222.

  198 One of her colleagues: Rogoyska, p. 225.

  198 “He was just a great boy”: Louis Aragon, in Vaill, p. 231.

  198–200 “It was the middle of the day, and Capa was drunk,” Regler, interview by Josefa Stuart, ICP, no date.

  200 “I left her in danger”: Pierre Gassmann, by Alex Kershaw, in Blood and Champagne, p. 61.

  201 “You learned the dry-mouthed”: Hemingway, p. 236.

  201 “It doesn’t seem fair that I’m still alive”: Cockburn in Allen, prologue to Capa, Death in the Making.

  201 “Part of Capa died with Gerda”: Kershaw, p. 62.

  201 “When she died”: Cartier-Bresson, interview by Stuart, Jan. 23, 1959.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  202 “Comrades of the International”: Ben Hughes, They Shall Not Pass (Oxford, England: Osprey Publishing, 2011), p. 212.

  204 “His closest friends sensed another side of him”: Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography, p. 127.

  204 “came and went as he chose”: Gellhorn, “Death Do Us Part,” in The Trouble I’ve Seen, p. 274.

  204 “He made no plans, he roamed”: Gellhorn, “Death Do Us Part,” p. 282.

  204 “How could you not”: Vaill, p. 249.

  205 “who spent one year at the Spanish front, and who stayed on”: Robert Capa, dedication to Death in the Making.

  206 “Here the moral[e] is bad”: Robert Capa to Julia Friedmann, 1938, ICP.

  207 “one of the world’s best news photographers”: Life magazine in Whelan, This Is War!, pp. 156–157.

  208 cold autumn night: Capa, translated by Whelan in This Is War!, p.165; original notes for Picture Post, Dec. 3, 1938.

  209 “The Greatest War-Photographer in the World: Robert Capa”: Picture Post, Dec. 3, 1938.

  209 “Life’s Camera Gets Closer”: Life, Dec. 12, 1938.

  210 “Words are hardly necessary”: Capa, translated by Whelan in This Is War!, p. 172; original notes for Picture Post, Dec. 3, 1938.

  210 “the enemy increases its artillery fire”: Capa, translated by Whelan in This Is War!, p. 181; original notes for Picture Post, Dec. 3, 1938.

  211 “I want to die”: In Match, Dec. 12, 1938; in Whelan, This Is War!, p. 155.

  211 “I was so sick”: Robert Capa to Julia Friedmann, Dec. 10, 1937, in Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography, p. 156.

  212 “It is not easy”: Robert Capa, This Is War!, p. 195.

  212–213 “Each bomber had four to eight machine guns”: Whelan, This Is War!, p. 186.

  213 “is the gamble shared by all of the refugees”: Whelan, This Is War!, pp. 191–193.

  213 “Hundreds and hundreds of thousands”: Whelan, This Is War!, p. 197.

  214–215 She tells of flower sellers in Barcelona: Gellhorn, The Face of War, p. 41.

  216 Chim’s assignment was a ticket to safety: Young, The Mexican Suitcase, Vol. 1, p. 95.

  217 Knowing he would be targeted: Young, The Mexican Suitcase, Vol. 1, p. 95.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  219 “greatest amphibious”: General Eisenhower in Kershaw, p. 121.

  221 “the most important story of the century”: Kershaw, p. 126. Capa’s ruined and blurry photos are so iconic that they form the basis for the opening of Steven Spielberg’s film Saving Private Ryan—a long opening sequence of the invasion that draws specifically from Capa’s images.

  221 “I felt . . . that the whole world was waiting”: Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography, p. 214.

  222 “Rush, rush, rush!”: Kershaw, p. 129.

  224 “Why be exploited by others?”: Kershaw, p. 179.

  228–229 “It’s not a job for a grown man”: Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography, p. 293.

  229 “I can’t be forty, how can anybody be forty?”: Kershaw, p. 239.

  230 On May 25, 1954: Kershaw, p. 246.

  230–231 “I’m going up the road a little bit”: Whelan, Robert Capa: A Biography, p. 299.

  231 “I realize now”: Julia Friedmann interview, ICP.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  235 it was as if Taro became part of Capa: Schaber, Frontline Club lecture, Oct. 17, 2008.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  239 “Two disparate pieces of a jigsaw puzzle”: Brian Wallis, Tricia Ziff, The Mexican Suitcase, film.

  240 “Curiously enough”: Orwell, p. 230.

  240 “We lived those years intensely”: Lisa Berger and Carol Mazer, directors, De toda la vida [All our lives], 1986.

  240 “Youth was born in Spain”: Allen, prologue to Capa, Death in the Making.

  240 In Poland alone: Naggar, Chim: Children of War, p. 8.

  241 “We shall be one person”: Steichen, The Family of Man, photo caption.

  242 his “first fascist corpse”: Szurek, p. 93.

  242 “was just as much against oppression of the Left”: Cornell Capa, interview and notes, ICP, no date.

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  WEB RESOURCES

  The Eyes of the World deals with many people, ideas, artistic creations, and events that can be explored on the Web. Here we offer an initial introduction to some sites we found to be particularly rich, interesting, and useful.