ROBERT CAPA 1913-1954 - Lot 79

ROBERT CAPA 1913-1954 Young women trained as Nationalist soldiers, Hankou, China, 1938. Photograph. Silver print ca. 1980, stamp on back. Image: 16.2 x 23.9 cm; sheet: 20.1 x 25.2 cm In July 1937, war broke out following the invasion of eastern China by the Imperial Japanese Army. The Sino-Japanese conflict opened another war front, to which special envoys were dispatched. One of them was already the most famous of all photojournalists: Robert Capa. He left Spain for the other side of the world, working for Regards and Ce Soir, as well as for the American magazine Life, with which he had been under contract since autumn 1937, and the English Picture Post and The Illustrated London. In January 1938, he set sail from Marseille for China with documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens and operator John Fernhout, to photograph Chinese resistance to the Japanese invasion. He returned to Paris in September. The front page of the May 5, 1938 issue of Regards proclaims: "La Chine lutte!" and announces "les photos de Capa", an indication of Capa's fame. This image of the young women training is one of them.