Museum of Art

Robert Capa (Hungarian, 1913-1954)

Born André Friedmann in Budapest, Hungary, Capa is seen as one of the most influential and prolific war photographers of his time. He covered the Spanish Civil War, much of World War II, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the French-Indochina War in Hanoi during the mid-1950s. Capa is known for connecting with his subjects, entering dangerous environments, and zoomed-in framings. Departing from war photography, in his depiction of artist Pablo Picasso, his partner Françoise Gilot, and his nephew Javier Vilato in the South of France, he showcases his penchant for vulnerability and grounded emotion amongst a friends and family holiday.

Capa left his home country of Hungary in 1930 to study journalism and political science at the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Berlin, Germany. After the rise of the Nazis, he left Germany for Paris where he began as a photojournalist with partner Gerda Taro. His coverage of the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939 pushed him to fame. He moved to the United States in 1946, where he worked for TIME and LIFE magazines and founded Magnum in 1947, a cooperative agency for international freelance photographers. Capa was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri in 1976, and has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; and the Getty Museum, Los Angeles.