This Is War!

Robert Capa is, without a doubt, one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century. His most striking images—of the Spanish Civil War, of the Sino-Japanese conflict, of World War II—all appeared in the pages of the leading picture magazines of the day

This was the context in which Capa worked and was known, and where he honed his skills as a master of the cinematic photo narrative. This Is War! Robert Capa at Work is a groundbreaking exhibition that re-examines Capa’s innovations as a photojournalist in the 1930s and 1940s. The title of the exhibition is drawn from the headline of a December 3, 1938 Picture Post story including Capa’s images from the Battle of Rio Segre. Never-before-seen photographs and newly discovered documents will illuminate six of Capa’s most important war stories. An element of the exhibition is reserved for the section ‘Dutch Connection’, that grasps the various connections between the Netherlands, Robert Capa and Spain.

This Is War! Robert Capa at Work is on view at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in combination with the exhibition Gerda Taro Retroperspective.

Gerda Taro (1910-1937) was a pioneering photojournalist who spent her brief but dramatic career photographing on the front lines of the Spanish Civil War. From October 10 2009 through January 3 2010 the Nederlands Fotomuseum will present the first major exhibition of Taro’s work. The exhibition, Gerda Taro, will include over eighty photographs drawn from ICP’s collection, as well as examples of the many European and American magazines and books that reproduced Taro’s dynamic and impassioned war coverage. “The work of Gerda Taro is not only remarkable within the larger oeuvre of war photography for the period, but also because it exemplifies the changing roles of women at that time,” said Willis E. Hartshorn, ICP Ehrenkranz Director. “Her work holds a significant place within the ICP Collection, and we are pleased to be able to present it in the context of such a major exhibition.”

Publication This Is War! Robert Capa at Work
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated eponymous catalogue, published by ICP/Steidl. The 400-page book includes six chapters by Richard Whelan and an introduction by ICP Curator Christopher Phillips.

Sponsors This Is War! Robert Capa at Work
The exhibition is supported by BNP Paribas and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Leadership gifts were provided by the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, George and Bicky Kellner, The John and Annamaria Phillips Foundation, and Cornell Capa. Additional support was received from Linda Hackett for C. A. L. Foundation, Ellen and Richard Kelson, The Liman Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Nierenberg, Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation, Arnold and Louise Sagalyn, Bernard Lee Schwartz Foundation, Marshall Sonenshine and Sonenshine Partners, and Lois and Bruce Zenkel. This Is War! Robert Capa at Work is organized by ICP Assistant Curator Cynthia Young.

Gerda Taro is curated by Irme Schaber, Taro’s biographer and an independent scholar working in Stuttgart; Richard Whelan, noted Robert Capa biographer, photo historian, and until his recent death, Curator of the Capa Archive at ICP; and ICP Associate Curator Kristen Lubben. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 184-page ICP/Steidl catalogue, the first major collected document of Gerda Taro’s photographs ever published. This exhibition is made possible with leadership gifts from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, George and Bicky Kellner, The John and Annamaria Phillips Foundation, and Cornell Capa. Additional support was received from Linda Hackett for C. A. L. Foundation, Ellen and Richard Kelson, The Liman Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Nierenberg, Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation, Arnold and Louise Sagalyn, Bernard Lee Schwartz Foundation, and Lois and Bruce Zenkel

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The Dutch Connection
In this part of the exhibition the Nederlands Fotomuseum offers a view in the various connections between the Netherlands, China and Spain. Joris Ivens and cameraman/photographer John Fernhout were along with Capa eyewitnesses of the battle between Spain and the Chinese-Japanese war, that resulted in the movies Spanish Earth (1937) and The 400 million (1939). Both conflicts were intensively followed by the Dutch left wing. This additional exhibition places namely the work of Capa in a Dutch perspective and is composed by Flip Bool from the Nederlands Fotomuseum. Seen are film material, advertising posters, books, magazines and photographs of among others John Fernhout, Germaine Krull, Cas Oorthuys, Carel Blazer and Annie Romein-Verschoor. Attention is also given to Dutch publications that in those days showed photos of Capa and Taro. The different elements that are shown comes from the Nederlands Fotomuseums own collection, de collection of the International Institute for Social History (IISG), the City archive Amsterdam en het Maria Austria Institute

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