A century has passed since the birth of Robert Capa (real name André Friedmann, 1913-1954), one of the most famous photographers in the world. It is a little known fact that the name Robert Capa was a fictitious identity created by Friedmann and the German female photographer, Gerda Taro (real name Gerta Pohorylle, 1910-1937). The two met in Paris in 1934 and soon became very close. In the spring of 1936, they began promoting their services as photojournalists under the name of Robert Capa. After their work began to sell, Friedmann took the Capa name, and Taro became an independent photographer. In the next year, 1937, Taro lost her life while covering the Spanish Civil War, and Taro’s life and death had a profound influence on Capa’s subsequent activities.

This exhibition is composed of two solo shows presenting the photographic work of Robert Capa and Gerda Taro. It is the first time that the 193 Capa photographs in the Yokohama Museum of Art collection have been shown at one time, and the exhibition of 83 works by Gerda Taro, organized by the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York and taken from their collection, is the first comprehensive introduction of her work in Japan. A total of about 300 photographs and documentary materials, including magazines in which their work was published, trace the lives and activities of these two important photographers, demonstrating the deep ties between them as well as their strong individual differences.

*image (left)
Robert Capa　
Tokyo Station April 18, 1954
Gelatin Silver Print of Yokohama Museum of Art
©ICP / Magnum Photos