Robert Capa, Death of a Loyalist Soldier, 1936, published in Life Magazine 1937
At the age of 23, Robert Capa took a photograph that many have labeled the greatest war photograph of all time. Taken during the Spanish Civil War, the renown of Capa’s photograph, Falling Soldier or Death of a Loyalist Soldier, reverberated around the world as it was published and republished in contemporary news magazines. However, Capa’s photo has been shadowed by controversy, including accusations of fakery. Read an analysis on the image by Capa’s biographer, Robert Whelan, on the authenticity of the photograph. Do you find his arguments convincing? Do you think Capa’s photograph is staged or not? And do you think its authenticity matters?
Whelan’s discussion of Capa’s photograph
The DUE DATE to submit your blog posts for this topic is Sunday, December 15th.
No I do not think that this photograph is staged. I could see why people would say it is staged but no I don’t think it is. When someone gets shot in the back that is how they fall. No one can imitate that exact fall from being shot behind unless you have actually been shot from behind. Authenticity is the key for photographs. That is the most important feature.
I also don’t think it was staged but I feel like Capa knew the decisive moment. I believe that even if it was staged he made the photograph become artful and brought life to the death. I dont care if it was staged because the photograph shows a powerful message about the war which people should have known about .
Robert Whelan made some very outstanding points and pointed out many things that was staged about the photo. For starters I actually found him convincing with the photo being staged but its not about the photo being staged or not because there was a greater problem going on and it needs to grab peoples attention. It really doesn’t matter if its staged or not, I believe it isn’t staged and if it was it wouldn’t really matter and the media needed to know about what was going on. Which answers my other question that authenticity really does matter.
I do not think this photograph is staged. If someone gets shot and not expecting it there is no way you can tell how that person will react. The was the guy in the picture is positioned I think he actually got shot. The fact it is a war also made it more believable that he actually got shot. This was also a good picture that Capa took to inform people about the war.
Robert Capa’s iconic photo “Death of Loyalist Solider” to me was very important to photo journalism, but I am conflicted between the photo being staged and real. The photos message of the war being real and violent gives the viewer a sense of realness. The way the character in the picture is seen falling makes sense as if he was getting shot in the back. The only problem that makes me a little suspicious is the background being so calm and not very war like. I find the arguments convincing especially that an actual militant participant are backing Capa. Photography has always had a back and forth relationship with things being manipulated and staged, but for the category of photo journalism authenticity is major. At this point in history I don’t think it matters as much because either way credit is due to Capa. His captured photo of a fallen solider is something people were never exposed to but am sure others felt like they could have taken it causing the motivation to catch more action shots especially in battle.