“This is Robert Capa!”, an exhibit of photographs by the man who chronicled the biggest military conflicts of the mid-20th century through his lens, will open Saturday, April 8, at The Capa Space in Yorktown Heights and continue through Oct. 8.
The show will include more than 50 of his photographs, giving viewers an opportunity to engage with works that set the bar for all subsequent war photography.
Capa was a groundbreaking photojournalist who placed himself in the middle of military conflicts to document the destruction of lives and property while also capturing the survivors who marched on through life, the human spirit in triumph over unspeakable adversity. Although the photojournalist (1913-1954), a recipient of the Medal of Freedom, had no ties to this area, he is nonetheless buried in Yorktown Heights in the Amawalk Friends Cemetery. During his relatively brief lifetime, Capa”™s career spanned the globe ”“ from the United States to Hungary, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, North Africa, Israel, China and ultimately Indochina, where he died at age 40 after stepping on a land mine on May 25, 1954.
Over the course of 20 years, his camera and adventurous spirit brought home the grim realities of five different wars. In between his wartime exploits, Capa”™s frankness and likeability forged friendships across the spectrum of war, art, literature and celebrity, including with such 20th-century icons as Henri Cartier Bresson, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Ingrid Bergman, Pablo Picasso, John Huston and many others.
As a part of our programming for the show, The Capa Space invites veterans to submit their best, most meaningful photographs from the time in which they served in the military.
A panel including Marie T. Keller, the exhibit curator, will select the best of the submitted photographs and create a slideshow to be presented in the exhibit space. The public will be invited to view the slideshow and encouraged to share its thoughts.
Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The Capa Space is at 2467 Quaker Church Road. For more, visit here.
