By José Manuel Serrano
Esparza
It has been possible to
discover the location of four further pictures made by Robert Capa on September
5, 1936 at the Finca of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) and belonging to the
series " Harangue in the Finca of Villa Alicia ", whose placement in
it I could find in 2010.
These four images appear
in the book " Death in the Making " from 1938, edited by Covici
Friede Publishers New York, of which I could get an original copy in good
condition some months ago.
The place where these
photographs were made was unknown, and jmse has been able to locate them in the
Finca of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) during the aforementioned Arenga that
Enrique Vañó Nicomedes (General Secretary of the CNT from Alcoy) and Felipe
Colomé (also member of the CNT from Alcoy) pronounce while being on top of a
big barrel approximately at 12:30 h of September 5, 1936 midday (half an hour
before the attack of the fierce Moroccan troops of tabor of regulares commanded
by colonel Sáenz of Buruaga), delivering speeches trying to encourage both
Anarchist militiamen belonging to CNT and FAI from Alcoy (Alicante) and
Andalusian militiamen listening to their words before the impending combat, in
the midst of feelings of distress, deep concern, fear of dying, introspection
thinking about their beloved ones during the previous moments to the fight, and
so forth.
Instants that are masterfully
captured by Capa using a 24 x 36 mm format Leica II (Model D) rangefinder
camera coupled to a Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5,
from an incredibly near
distance and managing to go unnoticed, top dream of every good photojournalist
during the photographic act.
FAR-REACHING IMAGES
In my opinion, these four
images are highly relevant, since they show once more the unutterable passion
for photography, incredible speed of movements, remarkable skill to become
invisible during the photographic act and huge flair to get the picture in
Robert Capa, a photographer who never believed he was the best at all and was
always sure that other members of Magnum Agency whom he greatly admired like
the genius Werner Bischof, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour " Chim
", and many more from different illustrated magazines and agencies were
far superior to him in terms of technical background and a wide raft of further
skills.
Capa´s photography is
wholeheartedly instinctive. He fights to exhaustion for getting the picture,
with uncommon ability to approach as much as possible to the photographed
persons, breathtaking speed of movements and an outstanding natural gift for
the capture of decisive moments, all of it enhanced by an extraordinary
sensitivity and talent to convey emotions and messages with his images.
PHOTO 1:
Two militiamen of the CNT
and FAI from Alcoy are looking and listening to the anarchist chief (out of
image) who being on top of a barrel is haranguing them to boost their morale
before the upcoming clash against the feared Moroccan troops from Tabor of Regulares
of the third attacking Francoist column under the command of colonel Sáenz of
Buruaga.
Their faces say it all :
both of them are with their mouth open, panting and sweaty.
The militiaman on the
left, wearing dark overalls, has stubble on his cheeks, is looking at the
speaker with a simultaneously hard and anxious countenance and supports his
back on the tree behind him, while his hands rest on his hips.
On his turn, the
militiaman on the right, clad in very torn out white overalls with its sleeves
up, desolately stares and listens to the anarchist chief, while being at the
same time in deep introspection thinking of a very probable death in combat
facing the fierce Moroccan troops.
This man is experiencing a
starting stage of animic shock, nervously grabbing both the barrel of his 7 x
57 mm caliber Mauser rifle with which he leans on the ground and the lower area
of a small sheet he is taking on his left shoulder, and his right arm is
resting on the tree.
 |
| Photo : Robert Capa / ICP New York |
Capa, who is at a very
near distance of roughly two meters, gets the picture of the two militiamen
being perpendicular to them after having covertly approached to both
combatants.
He´s being succesful
approaching as much as possible and presses the shutter release button of his
Leica II (Model D) with Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 lens, being able to go
unnoticed, without any of the two militiamen detecting his presence, in
addition to obtaining a very tight frame, typical in his fairly instinctive way
of photographing, with great quickness of movements, a commendable mastery of
the focusing distances, a steady attention to even the most minute details making
a difference, and a stunning talent and accuracy in the timing on pressing the
shutter release button of his camera to capture the most meaningful instants,
always shooting handheld.
A quarter of a century
before the wideangle 35 mm lenses became the par excellence photojournalistic
objective from late fifties, Capa makes a masterful use of the 4 elements in 3
groups Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 standard lens designed by Professor Max Berek
(which was the photojournalistic benchmark between the second half of twenties
and early fifties along with the 7 elements in 3 groups Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar
5 cm f/1.5 created by Ludwig Bertele in 1932), leveraging the first-rate
qualities as short tele lenses inherent to 50 mm objectives when it comes to
getting portraits and half-length pictures of people lacking distortion within
very short distances.
Needless to say that while
Capa makes the pictures of the Harangue in the Finca of Villa Alicia, he
clearly perceives a somehow gruesomely surrealistic context in which civil
combatants hailing from the most common occupations are going to fight against
highly professional troops from the Spanish Army of Africa featuring abundant
combat experiance and great prowess in the handling of firearms.
This photograph also
appears in the lower left area of page 727 of the English magazine London
Illustrated News of October 24, 1936, and jmse discovered its location in the
Finca of Villa Alicia in April of 2011.
But the reproduction of
this image appearing in the book " Death in the Making " from 1938,
published by Covici Friede in New York, features much higher image quality than
the one inside the aforementioned English illustrated magazine, so it has been
possible to discern many more details both regarding the facial traits of the
two militiamen visible in them and their clothes, together with the surrounding
landscape, verifying even more that the picture was made by Capa in the Finca
of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) on September 5, 1936.
PHOTO 2:
Exceedingly dramatic image
in which Capa gets a picture of a roughly 40 years old Andalusian militiaman
with moustache and wearing a checkered beret.
This man has been for some
minutes listening to the harangue of the two chiefs of CNT from Alcoy being on
top of a barrel in the Finca of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) and Capa captures
him just at the moment in which he is sweaty and collapses emotionally, closes
his eyes and his head falls backwards, as a consequence of the uneasiness and
stress.
He is a more veteran man
than the rest of abundant civil combatants, both from Alcoy (Alicante) and
Andalusia, present during the Harangue, so his older age and experience make
him clearly understand the danger magnitude, because they will have to fight to
the death against the fierce Morocca troops from tabor of Regulares, who will
try to kill them all to attack the north slope of Torreárboles Hill and catch
between two fires the Republican forces defending its summit and which are
being attacked from approximately 10:00 h in the morning of September 5, 1936
through the south slope by the left Francoist column under the command of major
Sagrado.
The picture is technically
very imperfect: it is slightly out of focus and shows a huge amount of grain,
so it could be a selective reframing made by a picture editor from a specific
area of the original black and white photograph in which there were some more
militiamen, to such an extent that there has been a big image quality
degradation from a technical viewpoint.
But it doesn´t matter in
this kind of photojournalistic pictures in which the key factors are to be at
the adequate place at the ideal place, to get as close as possible to the
photographed subject and to press the shutter release button of the camera with
the highest precision feasible to capture the most defining moments, something
that Capa has utterly achieved with this image, ruled by the powerful left
diagonal framing the right shoulder and face of the Andalusian militiaman,
whose countenance appears highly convulsed.
It is apparent in this picture
a titanic effort by Capa to capture this decisive moment, because it is a
totally instinctive photograph, made at full speed and from a low angle to
highlight the drama, depicting a timeless instant faithfully summing up what
war is about and the feelings it spawns.
Highly probably, this man
is thinking not only about the great danger for his life during the imminent
combat, but also about his most beloved relatives and friends whom perhaps he
will not see again.
But at the same time, he
plucks up courage and is ready to fight and die if necessary.
In spite of its rather low
image quality stemming from the significant drop in resolving power, contrast
and tonal range stemming from the enlargement from a specific area of the
original picture probably including some more militiamen, this amazing
photograph is a good example of the archetype of Leica photojournalistic image
from thirties, forties and fifties, in which the focus is not 100 % perfect (an
aspect thoroughly studied by the world-class Swiss expert on History of
Photography Michael Auer and explained in a number of his lectures).
Whatever it may be, the
drama of this picture doesn´t end here.
Capa has been watching and
making photographs of this Andalusian peasant militiaman wearing a checkered beret
for some minutes.
Who is this man ?
After a painstaking
analysis of the image, jmse has been able to discover that it is the same
person appearing on the right of the first picture made by Capa during the
Harangue in the Finca of Villa Alicia, whose location in it and the presence of
Gerda Taro on the left were also discovered by jmse on August 1, 2010:
Page 727 of the English
magazine Illustrated London News of October 24, 1936 in whose upper left zone
appears the same Andalusian peasant militiaman wearing a checkered beret and a
shotgun hanging from his left shoulder.
And he is also the same
man appearing in another photograph with a shotgun hanging from his left
shoulder, looking at the speaker and listening to his words during the Harangue
in the Finca of Villa Alicia, whose location was also discovered by José Manuel
Serrano Esparza in April of 2011, both in the upper left area of page 727 of
London Illustrated News magazine from October 24, 1936
and in one of the pages of
the book The Spanish People´s Fight for Liberty, compiled by A. Ramos Oliveira
and published by the Press Department of the Spanish Embassy in London in 1937,
which used the original 24 x 36 mm format negative developed by Csiki Weisz
(Capa´s great friend and his darkroom man in Paris) and sent by Maria Eisner
(Director of Alliance Photo Agency in the French capital), reproducing the
image in 19 x 24 cm size, which also appears in 20 x 25 cm size in one of the
pages of the book Death in the Making, published by Covici Friede New York in
1938. The location of this picture in the Finca of Villa Alicia was discovered
by José Manuel Serrano Esparza in April of 2011. © Robert Capa / ICP New York.
That´s to say, Capa
greatly manages to photograph the feelings and reactions experienced by this
Andalusian peasant militiaman while he listens to the Harangue in the Finca of
Villa Alicia, in which both he and the rest of militiamen are reported that
they will have to face the feared Moroccan Troops from the Army of Africa with
fixed bayonets.
PHOTO 3:
Capa, standing in a bit
high position, photographs one of the numerous groups of militiamen who are
listening to the Harangue in the Finca of Villa Alicia.
Once more, the scene he
captures is devastating. Most of the militiamen visible in the image belong to
the CNT and FAI from Alcoy (Alicante), though in the background, slightly out
of focus, there is an Andalusian militiaman with typical straw hat, and a
probably Andalusian woman can be seen on the middle left area of the picture,
behind the militiaman wearing a dark beret with tassle
The facial expression of
these militiamen while they listen to the harangue reflects huge restlessness
and concern. They already know that they will have to fight for their lives
against the ruthless Moroccan troops of Tabor of Regulares, featuring a
previous combat experience of more than twenty years in Africa, so they have
very little possibility of survival.
But Capa also realizes
that in spite of their wholly adverse circumstances, these militiamen gather
courage and brace themselves for fighting, something that powerfully draws the
attention of Gerda Taro (out of image), who is at few meters from him,
beholding astonished what is happening and also listening to the harangue.
The message conveyed by
the image is greatly dominated by the militiaman from Alcoy wearing a dark cap
without tassle, who shows a countenance speaking for itself, deeply engrossed
in his thoughts and full of anguish faithfully synthesizing the melting pot of
emotions and feelings brought about by war.
On his turn, the
militiaman with clear overalls and cap appearing behind him, has got few days
stubble on his face, is slightly out of focus, convulsed, sweaty, with his
mouth open and also thinking to himself that he can die in combat, while the
militiaman on his right is nervously looking around, trying to spot the
presence of Moroccan soldiers.
Throughout the whole
harangue, all the attending Alcoyan and Andalusian militiamen, along with Capa
and Gerda Taro, are hearing the rifle, artillery and mortar fire exchanged
between the Republican forces defending the summit of Torreárboles hill and the
left Francoist column under the command of major Sagrado, which is attacking
upwards the south slope of that height.
Additionally, Capa, always
paying heed to even the smallest details, shoots his camera just at the moment
when the face of an Andalusian woman (placed on the left of the image, in front
of the militiaman smoking a cigarette and striving upon calming down ) appears
partially covered by the Alcoyan militiaman wearing a dark cap with tassle
located in front of her.
This impossibility of
discerning the facial features of the approximately 60 year old woman (perhaps
the mother of some of the Andalusian militiamen listening to the harangue)
provides a great deal of dramatic symbology to the image, because she is
crestfallen and pensive, fully aware of the huge risk for their lives
approaching for each and every of these men.
On his turn, the
countenance of the aforementioned militiaman wearing a dark cap with tassle and
visible on the left of the picture, reflects great strain and bewilderment.
They know that the
Francoist élite troops from the Army of Africa are at a distance of few hundred
meters and can attack them at any moment, something that is utterly confirmed
by the militiaman on far right of the image, captured sideways by Capa and who
isn´t looking at the speaker on top of the barrel, but, being in the jitters,
is staring at the surroundings, searching with his sight for the presence of
Moroccan soldiers.
On his turn, the young
militiaman clad in dark overalls, large white sheet on his left shoulder and a
kind of round wide dark beret on his head appears likewise with his mouth open,
gasping and shows anxiety to spare on his face.
 |
| Photo : Robert Capa / ICP New York |
On the lower left half of
the image, the militiaman from Alcoy who is in front of the one wearing a dark
cap with tassel, appears frowning and with a look revealing deep concern,
strengthened by the haunting gazes of both the exceedingly young roughly 17
years old militiaman with clear cap visible on the lower right corner of the
picture and the one appearing on the lower left corner, clad in a clear cap
with tassle.
Though all the persons
visible in the photograph are hearing both the words of the speaker while he
pronounces the harangue and the shots whose noise comes from the south slope
and summit of Torreárboles hill, a significant percentage of them have stopped
looking at the anarchist chief standing on the barrel and trying to encourage
them before combat.
From a compositive
viewpoint, Capa places the interest epicenter of the image in the triangle made
up by five militiamen : the one located more on the left of the picture (with
his entire face and cap visible and furrowing his brow), the militiaman wearing
a dark cap with tassle just behind him, the militiaman with dark cap without
tassle, the militiaman with dark cap and a big sheet on his left shoulder and
the exceedingly young approximately 17 years old militiaman whose head occupies
the lower right corner of the picture.
PHOTO 4 :
Capa photographs an
Andalusian militiaman wearing a typical straw hat while he listens to the
Harangue in the Finca of Villa Alicia, around 12:30 h at midday of September 5,
1936.
With astonishing
discretion, the photographer approaches the Andalusian militiaman, who is
taking a sheet on his right shoulder and is smoking a cigarette, trying to
relax, immersed in a very special atmosphere of stress pervading everything at
the moment, capturing him without being detected, with a slightly low angle, to
underline his facial expression revealing unrest and commotion, and at the same
time he nervously takes the front area of his Mauser rifle with which he leans
on the ground.
In the same way as happens
with the Photo 2, this image reproduced in the book Death in the Making from
1938 is probably a selective reframing made from a specific area of the
original picture in which there would be more militiamen, because it exhibits tons
of grain and lack of detail in the attire and face of this Andalusian
militiaman, though the great acutance of the Eastman Kodak Panchromatic Nitrate
black and white film featuring a sensitivity of Weston 32 (roughly equivalent
to ISO 40) used by Capa in symbiosis with the Agfa Rodinal developer optimized
to obtain maximum perception of visual sharpness and handled by Csiki Weisz in
Paris, have been able to preserve a minimum level of detail, making possible to
appreciate his facial expression.
The powerful sunlight
illuminating the face left zone of this Andalusian peasant militiaman and
rendering in shadow its right area, along with the vast low key area within the
straw hat, enhance the drama of the image, in which once more Capa masterfully
captures a meaningful instant.
VERIFICATION THAT ROBERT
CAPA MADE IN THE FINCA OF VILLA ALICIA (CERRO MURIANO) A FURTHER PICTURE DURING
THE HARANGUE
Photograph made by Robert
Capa in the Finca of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) on September 5, 1936 and
appearing in one of the pages of the book Death in the Making from 1938 with
much higher quality of image than on page 727 of the English magazine
Illustrated London News from October 24, 1936. Photo : Robert Capa / ICP New
York.
As well as the previous
pictures, the book Death in the Making published by Covici Friede Publishers
New York in 1938 includes another image made by Capa, whose location in the
Finca of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) was discovered by jmse in April 2011.
It´s a photograph depicted
on the lower right area of page 727 of the English magazine Illustrated London
News from October 24, 1936, but also in the book Death in the Making from 1938,
with far better image quality:
We can see an anarchist
militiaman from CNT or FAI from Alcoy (Alicante) captured sideways, with a
framing whose top limit coincides with the highest area of the militiaman´s
cap, while its lower border is bounded by approximatel the zone just over the
left arm elbow and the high stomach area, and he takes on his chest some small
clear colour and rectangular boxes, tied with strings.
This anarchist militiaman
from Alcoy (Alicante) appears also in the aforementioned picture (page 71 of
the book Capa : Face to face Robert Capa´s pictures on the Spanish Civil War
from the National Museum of Art Reina Sofía Collection published by Aperture
and on page 85 of the book Robert Capa Photographic Work published by Phaidon
and written by Richard Whelan), in the middle area of his right half, in which
jmse discovered in 2010 that all the pictures of the Harangue had been made by
Capa in the Finca of Villa Alicia and the head of Gerda Taro on the left :
He is the second man on
the right of the Andalusian militiaman whose hat is touching the painted white
letters visible on the upper half of a car mostly hidden by the bodies of the
many standing militiamen listening to the harangue of the anarchist chief who
is speaking to them from top of a barrel.
He is undoubtedly the same
person, identical facial traits, identical whiskers, the same militiaman cap
and exactly the same handkerchief.
OSKAR BARNACK´S LEGACY
PAYING OFF IN THE BIRTH OF A NEW KIND OF WAR PHOTOGRAPHY IN CERRO MURIANO
(CÓRDOBA)
The twenty-one years
elapsed between 1914 (production year of the Ur-Leica prototype) and 1935
(production year of the Leica IIIA, provided with an additional shutter speed
of 1/1000 s) were the halcyon days of Oskar Barnack, whose immense talent
creating the saga of 24 x 36 mm format, very small and light LTM39 Leica
rangefinder cameras coupled to a wide range of also tiny first-class lenses
meant a revolution in photography, enabling to comfortably shoot handheld and
with a much faster speed of movements than the very big and heavy large and
medium format cameras in existence until then, often needing the use of a
tripod and very slow shutter speeds to obtain sharp photographs.
And in spite of being very
weak, without stamina, constantly coughing and trudging, Oskar Barnack devoted
many hours of his last two years of life to improve the reliability of the
top-notch shutter of his 35 mm format screwmount Leica rangefindere cameras, to
such an extent that even in November of 1935, under very low temperatures, only
two months before his death, he kept on going to the platform of Wetzlar Train
Station with Julius Huisgen ( photographer at Ernst Leitz Wetzlar as well as
darkroom expert who developed the black and white 24 x 36 mm 35mm format film
rolls exposed by Barnack and author of his portraits), waiting for the arrival
of trains to do tests shooting at different shutter speeds and check the
accuracy of the utterly mechanical horizontal travelling focal plane shutter
featuring cloth curtains, steadily improving it.
And only eight months
after his death, Robert Capa put Oskar Barnack´s fundamental keynotes through
its paces in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba) on September 5, 1936, making the landmark
reportages " Harangue in the Finca of Villa Alicia " and "
Flight of the Refugees from the Village of Cerro Muriano " ,
Inventing a new kind of
war photography and writing with golden letters both timeless and highly
innovative picture essays.
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