Photography Collection

For a time one only thought of her as Robert Capa’s lover. But now, a photo book by Gerda Taro, confirms that she was a brilliant war reporter in her own right. She took breathtaking photographs and decisively influenced the history of photography – even with her death.

Hour after hour she crouched in a fox hole. On 25^th July 1937, the bombs of ‘Legion Condor’, sent to Spain by Hitler, rained down on the republican troops. However, Gerda Taro kept pointing her camera into the sky, clicking away – as if her equipment were a protective shield against death. Robert Capa, her partner, colleague and later co-founder of the legendary agency Magnum, coined the phrase: ‘If your photo isn’t good enough, you weren’t close enough’. Gerda Tara was very close. As the first photo reporter in the world the young German woman from Stuttgart ventured into the thick of battle – as on that Sunday. A few hours later she would pay for her courage with her life. For a long time, even amongst experts, Taro’s name was nothing but a footnote in the life of the great Robert Capa. But now that some 3000 negatives, left behind by Capa, Taro and their colleague David Seymour, have suddenly appeared under strange circumstances, experts such as the Taro biographer Irme Schaber think it highly likely that this will change. The treasure must still be evaluated at the International Centre of Photography, New York. But, Irme Schaber already knows that the many, hitherto unknown works of Taro amongst them, will shed new light on ‘themes, pictures and conclusions to her approach’ as well as on Capa and Taro’s time during the Spanish civil war; a time, when together they changed journalistic photography for ever. A book edited by Schaber, in collaboration with other experts, was presented at the first Taro retrospective in New York and gives – 70 years after her death in Spain – an impressive insight into the work of the photographer.

A couple as the ‘Inspirational Force for the Agency’

Taro, grown up as Gerta Pohorylle, a socialist from a Jewish family, fled from the National Socialists into exile in Paris. At first she was practically starving. Her friend, Ruth Cerf, remembers whole weekends spent in bed, so as not to waste energy in times of hunger. Because at that time the journalistic market was not yet regulated and therefore accessible to emigrants, Pohorylle could sign on with the agency Alliance Photo. There she worked as aphoto editor and agent for Andre Friedman, a young, emigree photographer, with whom she had previously fallen in love. It was from him that she learned how to handle a camera and very soon they drew inspiration from each other. At the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, in July 1936, the two – driven from home by National Socialism – set out to report about the fight against the later dictator Franco, who, with Hitler’s support, wanted to overthrow the republic. Through their biographically motivated approach they they aimed to establish the principle of authorship to journalistic photography, which up till then was applicable to mostly written text. It seemed a logical step, since both strived for a dual approach concept – although this was not yet quite as clear cut. What did this mean? Not only did the pair rush into battle with the soldiers, they showed their biased sympathy by always being in the thick of things – they saw themselves as subjective reporters, in other words, as authors. Taro often searched for more than just a hot news photo: the book of photographs shows orphans, soup kitchens, mine workers and many photographs have been published in international publications and newspapers such as ‘Vu’, ‘Zuercher Illustrierte’, and of course ‘Life’.

Prior to that they had decided on an unusual strategy to market their work, and themselves. Andre Friedman became Robert Capa, and Greta Pohorylle changed to Gerda Taro. They internationalised their names in order to be outside ethnic or religious constraints and cultivated a touch of Hollywood (Capa styled himself on screwball director Frank Capra, Taro on Greta Garbo). At times they sold their works simply under the name of Capa, later on under the label ‘Reportage Capa & Taro’. Together they laid the foundation for collective marketing, carried to great success by Magnum. The love and work partners became, according to biographer Schaber, the ‘inspirational force for the Agency’.

‘The Little Blondie’

Taro’s photographs are not particularly feminine; neither do they show particularly feminine subjects. Her appearance, however, was doubly sensational to the militants. A female photo journalist in the thick of things! And strutting around in stilettos! The Spaniards called her fondly ‘the little Blondie’, a ‘very beautiful, elegant woman, who bravely courted danger’, according to biographer Schaber, who also on this point, hopes to learn more from the recently discovered pictures. Did the militants pose rakishly for the beauty?

Perhaps it was because of that, that later on, on the front, Taro did her photography, dressed in overalls and straw shoes. As during the battle for Brunete, a few kilometres from the Spanish capital, where, on that 25^th July 1937, she stayed in her fox hole and photographed German bombers. The earlier started Brunete series turned out to be a master piece and had been published worldwide – it seemed to have been worth the risk.

In fact, Taro escaped the bombs – only to be accidentally knocked over by a republican armoured tank during the night. Severely wounded, she died several hours later, on 26^th July 1937. The closeness to the war had killed her after all. In death, the 27-year old became immortal – not because of her photography, but as a martyr for the resistance. French communists saw to a splendid grave for her in Pere Lachaise in Paris.

Nevertheless even her death has a meaningful influence on the history of war photography. The long sceptical editors took it as final proof, that this new, close up war photography as championed by Capa and Taro, indeed guaranteed unsurpassable authenticity. Even the most sceptical of editors finally admitted that nothing is more authentic than death.