War Photography or Propaganda?
Gerda Taro and Robert Capa, were two war photographers who teamed up to capture the essence of the Spanish Civil War.
Taro’s earlier work focused on the children of the war, almost as if trying to capture the innocence being destroyed by the war. Photographs such as “Two Boys and a Barricade, Barcelona” and “Boy with Fay” showed how the battlefields became playgrounds for little children. A feeling of coldness swept through, to imagine that these boys used guns as toys and real bullets replaced water. Her other main focus in 1936 and early 1937 was children as they should be in “normal” life–pictures like “War orphan eating soup, Madrid” and “War orphan seated in a circle, Madrid”.
In 1937, she switched from a Rollei camera to a Leica, from here it was said that her work began looking identical to Capa’s, but Taro’s pictures were more compelling than Capa’s. Robert Capa, on the other hand, was a battlefield photographer, catching soldiers “in action”. There have been many criticisms that his photographs were staged. His photograph “Loyalist militiamen brandishing rifles, Cero Meriano Coreola front, Spain” became too unbelievable; the men were putting up theirs hands as if surrendering but all of them were smiling. His most famous work is “The Falling Soldier”, however to the 21st century eyes, this photograph is nothing spectacular, nothing we haven’t seen before.
Taro’s pictures were different, showing other aspects that people don’t associate with war. Beginning in May 1937, her work began moving to the darker side. Her series on air raid victims were overwhelming. Her pictures were bloody and vivid, showing trails of blood surrounding the bodies, as if they had been dragged and thrown there. The most moving of these were the two pairs of feet. A second look at the picture revealed that the second pair of feet was noticeably smaller than the first, as if it belonged to an innocent little boy.
Both these photographers were eminent for their bravery to enter the battlefields. This had its consequences; Taro was killed while on one of her photo shoots. They risked their lives to be able to reveal the gruesomeness of war in hope to stop these things from happening. As Capa once said, “the desire of any war photographer is to be put out of business.”