The Mexican Suitcase… Images from the Spanish Civil War March 15, 2013
Posted by irishelectionliterature in History, Imagery.trackback
Saw a link to this site earlier on Facebook and it’s superb. The story of how the photos came to light, the images themselves which capture moments of life during The Spanish Civil War, moments from both sides too.
The Mexican Suitcase… Images from the Spanish Civil War
In late December 2007, three small cardboard boxes arrived at the International Center of Photography from Mexico City after a long and mysterious journey. These tattered boxes—the so-called Mexican Suitcase—contained the legendary Spanish Civil War negatives of Robert Capa. Rumors had circulated for years of the survival of the negatives, which had disappeared from Capa’s Paris studio at the beginning of World War II. Cornell Capa, Robert’s brother and the founder of ICP, had diligently tracked down each tale and vigorously sought out the negatives, but to no avail. When, at last, the boxes were opened for the 89-year-old Cornell Capa, they revealed 126 rolls of film—not only by Robert Capa, but also by Gerda Taro and David Seymour (known as “Chim”), three of the major photographers of the Spanish Civil War. Together, these roles of film constitute an inestimable record of photographic innovation and war photography, but also of the great political struggle to determine the course of Spanish history and to turn back the expansion of global fascism.
That’s an amazing find.
I know that there’s a lot of interest when even the lowest quality photograph or photostat of the early 20th century revolutionary period here gets discovered – but to find a cache like this is astonishing.