Thousands of negatives, long thought lost, of pictures taken by Robert Capa ('Falling Soldier' fame) during the Spanish Civil War have turned up in a suitcase in Mexico. Capa fled France in 1939, leaving his negatives in his Paris darkroom. Worth googling Capa for the full story, reported in the NY Times.
Jan 27 2008 22:31
Feb 9 2008 21:45
Thanks for that. Found the article very interesting. Since I was a boy the picture of Federico Borrell Garcia (Falling Soldier) has haunted me. Often referred to as a Republican Soldier - he was in fact an anarchist militia man with the Libertarian Youth.
Feb 9 2008 21:49
Wasn't it staged?
Feb 9 2008 22:10
Some say that this is the case. Others argue that it is genuine. It is hoped that the find will bury this one for good. The negatives could prove it one way or the other.
Feb 11 2008 23:30
Feb 11 2008 23:57
Caiman del Barrio wrote:
Wasn't it staged?
too lazy to read jef's link, but iirc the same guy appears later on the film, so isn't being shot dead but just falling on his arse
Feb 12 2008 01:04
Joseph K. wrote:
too lazy to read jef's link, but iirc the same guy appears later on the film, so isn't being shot dead but just falling on his arse
they don't have the film, just the contact sheet and apparently that doesn't show the guy again it's still quite possibly staged but the guy who was identified was killed on that day and both he and capa were there. Can't conclusively prove it either way.
Feb 12 2008 13:03
Cool, I got that Taro book for Christmas, would like to see more of her stuff.
Shame they won't just go up on flickr tho 
Feb 12 2008 13:15
rkn wrote:
I got that Taro book for Christmas
*jealous smiley*
Feb 12 2008 14:55
Well there's a bio about the "Fallen Soldier" sitting in moderation for the last month. If and when it gets through you'll be able to read about him
Feb 25 2008 11:04
Bio about Borrell is now in libcom bios.
Feb 25 2008 16:29
I had no idea the Fallen Soldier was an anarchist in the Libertarian Youth (which I only found out in the last Freedom). My lecturer talked about the picture for ages and I could've brought up the fact, which would have further rubbished his Republican shpeel.
Anarchists always have the best stories! It'll be brilliant to see what new pictures come out of this.
Can comment on articles and discussions
Here's the New York Times article
It's actually three suitcases of negatives, including shots not only by Capa, but Gerda Taro and David Seymour