Cappa

[Stephen Kobrin <kobrins@wharton.upenn.edu>]

I saw the Capa exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art yesterday.  It
presents a relatively large number of photographs, from his shots of
Trotsky in 1932 through a very eerie frame taken just before he stepped on
the land mine in Indo-China in 1954.  In between, there are photographs
from France, Spain, WWII, Mexico, Israel, Japan and finally, Indo-China.
All of the primary prints were done in the early 1990s from a compete
review of all of his contacts and negatives.  Interestingly, both my wife
and I were most affected by a small number of "vintage" prints from Spain
which seem to capture the immediacy and grit of war more effectively than
their more recent siblings.  

The exhibition gives you a feeling for the man as well as his photographs.
It is very obvious that he believed strongly in the causes he covered. His
feeling for his subjects shines through. His courage is obvious: in several
pictures everyone else has their head as close to the ground as possible
and in others you realize he is right in the middle of the action.  

The catalog has been published by Aperture (1996).  The show is well worth
seeing.  BTW, I did not realize that "Robert Capa" was a name he took when
he arrived in Paris because he thought it would be easier to sell his work
as an American.  An amazing man.  

Steve