Gecamoufleerd kanon, China

1936–1939

The Spanish Civil War

From 1936 to 1939 Capa worked in Spain, photographing the Civil War together with Gerda Taro and David Seymour; he travelled with and photographed the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification (POUM).

1936–1939

Photographs the war in Spain with Hemingway

Capa accompanied the journalist and author Ernest Hemingway in Spain to photograph the war, which Hemingway later described in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Life magazine published an article about Hemingway and his time in Spain with numerous photographs by Capa.

19 June 1937 – 12 September 1937

Took part in: foto '37

July 1937

The death of Gerda Taro near Brunete

In July 1937 Gerda Taro was killed near Brunete: returning from a photographic assignment covering the battle, the car she was travelling in (apparently standing on its footboard) collided with an out-of-control tank. Capa, who was reportedly engaged to her, was deeply shocked and never married.

1938

China: Hankou and the resistance to the Japanese invasion

In 1938 Capa travelled to Hankou, now part of Wuhan, to document the resistance to the Japanese invasion; Life magazine published some of his pictures in its issue of 23 May 1938.

1939–1940

Moves from Paris to New York

At the start of the Second World War Capa was already in New York, having moved there from Paris to look for work and to escape Nazi persecution.