Capa in Color

Budapest’s Capa Center presents a selection of photographs by Robert Capa, who is one of the world’s most recognized war photojournalists. Due to the great number of visitors, the exhibition has been extended by October 31, 2015.

Although Robert Capa is often referred to as one of the greatest masters of black-and-white photography, the Hungarian-born Capa regularly shot in color, too. These photos have never been exhibited in Europe - until now.  “One of the reasons that we haven't seen this work of his before is that for the most part they don't represent the big, heroic events which he was known for. After his death, it just seemed such an anomaly that this great black-and-white master should have done work in color. That's why this was forgotten,” explains curator Cynthia Young, who works at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York – the institution where the show was first exhibited last year, and where from  it traveled to Hungary.

ICP was founded by the photographer’s brother Cornell Capa in 1974. The institution has devoted itself to taking care of the legacy of Robert Capa for over 40 years.

Ready to shoot every moment 

Only a few people knew that from 1947 until his death in 1954, Capa almost always carried at least two cameras, one of them with black and white film and the other with color. His color images contain little of the political gravity of his war stories, instead reflecting a more peaceful and prosperous vision of the world. The photos of the glamorous ski resorts in Switzerland and France are imbued with the airy and joyful zest for life following the war; the photo story from the horse racetrack of Deauville magnificently reflects the blending of social classes; and the images of the Biarritz beaches and the nightlife show the world the colorful swirl of traditional folk culture. Capa also managed to capture Pablo Picasso on holiday, Ernest Hemingway and his son Gregory on their hunting trip in Idaho, and actress Ingrid Bergman with actor George Sanders during the shooting of Roberto Rossellini’s movie ‘Journey to Italy.’

Somewhere in France

Besides Capa in Color, visitors to Capa Center are also invited to look at the photos of Robert Capa’s friend and editor John G. Morris. ‘Somewhere in France – The Summer of ’44’ shows Normandy in the summer of 1944, following the landings on D-Day. The then 27-year-old Morris made up his mind to follow Capa in documenting the historical events himself, even though he was working as picture editor in the London office of Life magazine. Unlike Capa, Morris took his pictures for himself, not as a professional and they were not published until 2014, when Robert Pledge, director of the prestigious photo agency Contact Press Images compiled and edited a book of these photographs. Thanks to the cooperation of the 98-year-old Morris and Pledge, who also represents world-renowned photographers like Annie Leibovitz, Don McCullin, and Sebastião Salgado, visitors can see images in the Capa Center that had been hiding in a drawer for seventy years.

Capa Biography

Born André Friedmann in Budapest, Robert Capa left Hungary in 1930 for Berlin, enrolled in the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik as a student of journalism and political science, and served as a darkroom assistant at the Deutsche Photodienst Agency. With the rise of the Nazis in 1933, Capa left Germany for Paris, where he shared a darkroom with Henri Cartier-Bresson and Chim (David Seymour). He worked regularly as a photojournalist, and between 1936 and 1939 made several trips to Spain with his companion, Gerda Taro, to document the civil war. His photographs from this conflict, including his most famous image, Death of a Loyalist Soldier (1936), were heralded almost immediately for their stunning impact; Picture Post termed him "the greatest war photographer in the world" in 1938. When World War II began, he moved to America and worked freelance for LIFE, Time, and other publications. From 1941 to 1946, he was a war correspondent for LIFE and Collier's, traveling with the US Army and documenting Allied victories in North Africa, the Allied landing at Normandy, and the Allied capture of Leipzig, Nuremberg, and Berlin. After the war, Capa joined Henri Cartier-Bresson, Chim (David Seymour), and George Rodger in founding Magnum, a cooperative photography agency providing pictures to international publications. In 1948-1950, he photographed the turmoil surrounding Israel's declaration of independence. “If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough,” he once said, and his bravery on the front-lines helped him capture some of the most intense, intimate, and emotional photos of war. He traveled to Hanoi in 1954 to photograph the French war in Indochina for LIFE; shortly after his arrival, he stepped on a landmine and was killed. Robert Capa made photographs that achieved their exceptionally powerful effect through his strong connection to and affection for people. This attitude, and his use of the small 35-millimeter camera, allowed him to approach his subjects and throw himself into the action as no one else. The result was a breakthrough in the history of photojournalism.