Robert Capa. L’Opera 1932-1954, at Centre Saint-Bénin in Aosta, from 6 May 2022 to 22 October 2023, is the new appointment with international photography curated by Gabriel Bauret, in collaboration with Daria Jorioz - manager of the Exhibition Activities and Cultural Identity Promotion Structure of Aosta.

The exhibition consists of 366 photographs selected from the Magnum Photos archives and retraces the main stages of Robert Capa's career, giving the right space to some of the most iconic works that have embodied the 20th-century history of photography.

The exhibition is not conceived only as a retrospective of the work of Robert Capa, but rather aims to reveal through the images proposed the facets and the minimal folds of a passionate and ultimately elusive character, insatiable and perhaps never fully satisfied, who does not hesitate to risk his life for his reports. In fact, Capa has always shown a player's temperament, but a free-player one. Showing something, he also tries to understand, he revolves around his subject, both literally and figuratively.

"The exhibition" - anticipates Exhibition Activities Manager Daria Jorioz, "allows us to retrace all the stages of Robert Capa's extraordinary career, paying particular attention to some of his most iconic images, which embodied the history of 20th century photography. L’esposizione si propone di evidenziare le molteplici sfaccettature dell’opera di un autore passionale e in definitiva sfuggente, instancabile e forse mai pienamente soddisfatto, che non esitava a rischiare la vita per i suoi reportages”.
Gabriel Bauret writes in the catalogue: "His place in the history of photography could be compared to that of Robert Doisneau, but the comparison stops there: as much Capa is an eternal migrant, with an adventurous spirit, as Doisneau is a sedentary man who nourishes his photography with the subjects he knows how to find in Paris and its suburbs".

The exhibition will not be limited to war representations that forged the legend of Capa. In the photographer's reportage, as in all of his work, exist what Raymond Depardon calls "moments of weakness", as opposed to the strong tempos that characterize the actions; weak moments bring us back to the man André Friedmann, to his sensitivity towards the victims and the underprivileged, to what in the end was his personal journey, from Hungary onwards.

The exhibition will be divided into 9 thematic sections:
First photographs, 1932 – 1935
The hope for a more just society, 1936
Spain: engagement, 1936 – 1939
China under fire from Japan, 1938
Alongside the American Army, 1943 – 1945
Peace restored, 1944 – 1954
Journeys to the East, 1947 – 1948
Israel, the promised land, 1948 – 1950
Return to Asia: a fight that is not his, 1954

Browse the Gallery

The public will also be able to admire the publications of Robert Capa's reportage in the French and American press of the time, and extracts from his texts on photography, which, among other things, touch topics such as blur, distance, work, political commitment, and war. In addition, excerpts from a film by Patrick Jeudy on Robert Capa in which John G. Morris emotionally comments on documents showing Capa in action, and - lastly - the audio recording of an interview with Capa on Radio Canada will be available for the audience.

Robert Capa was born in 1913 in Budapest; in his youth he moved to Berlin, where he began his great career as a photojournalist that would lead him to travel all over the world. In 1947 he founded the famous Magnum Photos with Henri Cartier-Bresson and David Seymour. He died in Indochina in 1954, wounded by a land mine while documenting the front line war.

INFO

Centro Saint-Bénin, Aosta
6 May - 22 October 2023

TIMETABLE
Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00-13.00 / 14.00-18.00
Closed on Monday

For additional infos:
Regione autonoma Valle d’Aosta
Assessorato Beni e attività culturali, Sistema educativo e Politiche per le relazioni intergenerazionali
Struttura Attività espositive e promozione identità culturale
tel. 0165.275937
Centro Saint-Bénin, Via Festaz 27 – Aosta

tel. 0165.272687
e-mail: u-mostre@regione.vda.it

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