This is Robert Capa | The Capa Space
The Falling Soldier (Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death), Spain, 1936
Few photographers have had such unparalleled access to war as Robert Capa. He literally brings us there: the hills, the valleys, everywhere. Because of him, we ourselves feel like soldiers, with the fear and loneliness of global conflict flowing maliciously through our veins. In Yorktown Heights, This is Robert Capa! Is perhaps one of the finest arrangements of his iconic work, diving deeply into his war repertoire with over fifty selections. In them, we see all the minutiae of war and its constituents, leaving us feeling as hollow as ever. In the modern era, it rings as one of the most important exhibitions in recent memory.
Huston Riley Landing on Omaha Beach, France, 1944
Capa places himself within his documented world as if he is invisible, giving us an unfiltered, undoctored experience. This is his true mastery of the lens: nothing set up, no Hollywood lighting. He is in the same vein as, say, Robert Frank and Fred Herzog, inserting himself into worlds and places without acknowledgement. Because of this, the war feels so powerfully real, wrenching our guts as we look at black-and-whites of heinous conflict. Not only that, but the grim reality of war is put on full display, giving us a full glimpse of what life is really like on the front and behind enemy lines. It is lonely. It is tiring. All of the raw emotions felt by soldiers seep through the image, grabbing us by the shirt and begging us to bring them home.
French Woman who had a Baby Fathered by a German Soldier being marched through the Streets of Chartres after Being Punished by Having her Head Shaved, August 18, 1944
The camera merely captures the image, but the mastery of the lens is the ability to transport us to the world at hand; this is exactly what Capa does. We are the soldiers, fighting the battles and feeling the most evil forms of fear. We feel the loneliness of foreign lands, boering on homesickness as we move from one image to the next. His subjects don’t look at you, they look through you, reminding you that what they’re going through should never happen again. Their eyes draw you closer to the image and make you feel their pain, their sorrow, and their suffering. Rarely does such intense human connection happen through photography.
Robert Capa Gravestone, Amawalk Hill Cemetery (also known as The Amawalk Friends Meeting House Cemetery), Quaker Church Road, Amawalk, New York (photo by Francis M. Naumann 2023)
Not only were these images incredibly powerful when they were released, but they resonate even deeper in the modern era. After World War I, countries vowed to never engage in global conflict ever again, still reeling from the devastating losses to their own nations. Now, in 2023, we find ourselves once again inching towards a catastrophe, with millions of lives waiting to be lost in the balance. Let us not glorify war with motion pictures. Let these pictures show us the true horror of combat, scaring us into our senses and guiding us to make proper choices. We all owe Robert Capa a debt of gratitude for this.
