Picasso

1931

Arrested by the Hungarian secret police and made to leave

In 1931, just before his first photograph was published, Friedmann was arrested by the Hungarian secret police for his radical political activity, beaten and jailed. A police official’s wife, who happened to know his family, won his release on condition that he leave Hungary immediately.

1932

First published photograph: Trotsky in Copenhagen

The first published photograph by Endre Friedmann, the future Robert Capa, showed Leon Trotsky speaking in Copenhagen on “The Meaning of the Russian Revolution”.

1935

The birth of the name “Robert Capa”

From 1935 Friedmann worked under the pseudonym Robert Capa. It was a mystification devised together with Gerda Taro: she spread rumours among journalists about a famous and wealthy American photographer ready to sell his pictures, while Friedmann himself played the fictitious character.

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.

1944

The only civilian photographer on Omaha Beach

On D-Day Capa, attached to the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division (“Big Red One”), landed on Omaha Beach as the only civilian photographer. The photographic historian A. D. Coleman suggests that he travelled in the same landing craft as Colonel George A. Taylor and came ashore near Colleville-sur-Mer an hour and a half after the first wave.

1947

Founds the Magnum Photos agency

In 1947 in Paris Capa founded Magnum Photos with Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Vandivert, David Seymour and George Rodger: the first cooperative agency for freelance photographers worldwide.