Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/24

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Subject: [Leica] how Cornell Capa got his name
From: bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)
Date: Tue Aug 24 12:17:17 2004

They WERE brothers, and if Bob took Capa first, and Cornell was also a
photographer - and one would assume hoped/thought he was Bob's equal if
not superior, wouldn't it make sense that he'd take the name?

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Phong
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 3:03 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: RE: [Leica] how Cornell Capa got his name


 Thinkofcole@aol.com wrote:
> 
> For Phong: _http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/capa.htm_
> (http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/capa.htm) 
> ...

which is about how Robert Capa, not Cornell, got his name.
I knew about Robert Capa and Gerda, but was curious
to why and when Cornell called himself Capa.
[By the way, I don't think Gerda and Robert Capa
ever married; they might have, had it not been for her
death in the battlefield in Spain]

>   Cornell joined the group in Paris in 1936.
This is the information I was looking for, sort of.
Is this the time he started calling himself Capa too 
(or is it II ?  :-)  )

I just find it odd that Cornell would take on the fictitious 
name taken by his brother.    While Robert and Gerda's
choice of name is a stroke of genius and bravado,
I cannot quite relate to Cornell's decision.
I understand that  his family, and particularly their mother 
had always looked at Andrei as the star in the family, but still So
willingly marked himself to be nothing other than Robert's brother.
Would you give up your own professional identity if you have an
illustrious brother ?  (in 1936, Robert Capa
was not the celebrity he later became).   Or maybe it started 
out as a joke, and then stuck.

Anyway, just a curiosity on a small footnote in photography history.


- Phong

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Replies: Reply from bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen) ([Leica] how Cornell Capa got his name)
In reply to: Message from phong at doan-ltd.com (Phong) ([Leica] how Cornell Capa got his name)