Fotóriporter, 2008 (1-4. szám) - 2009 (1. szám)

2008 / 1. szám

Cornell Capa (jobbra) bátyjával Roberttel és édesanyjukkal. New York, 1940 körül Cornell Capa (right) with his brother Robert and their mother. New York, c. 1940 Cornell Capa Cornell Capa (1918. április 14. - 2008. május 23.) magyar származású amerikai fényképész, a Magnum fotóügynökség egykori elnöke, a Foto­gráfia Nemzetközi Központjának (International Center of Photography) alapítója, Robert Capa világhírű fotóriporter öccse. Friedmann Kornél néven született Budapesten, érettségi után Párizsba ment, mert azt remélte, hogy felfrissítve iskolában szerzett francia nyelvtu­dását, itt beiratkozhat az orvosi karra, amely Buda­pesten, zsidó származása miatt, csaknem lehetet­lennek tűnt. Bátyja, Robert, ekkor már itt élt, s Cornell az ő és barátai - David Seymour „Chim” és Henri Cartier-Bresson képeinek laborálásából tar­totta el magát. Egyre jobban belekerült a sajtó, a képes újságok világába, s 1937-ben, feladva orvosi ambícióit, követte édesanyját, és New Yorkban telepedett le, munkát vállalt előbb a Pix fotóügy­nökségnél, majd a Life magazinnál. A laborban kapott helyet, s szokásos labormunkáin kívül nél­külözhetetlenné vált, mint az egyetlen ember, aki eligazodott a Robert Capa által használt magyar­­német-francia keverék nyelven, s a negatív teker­csek mellett érkező, korántsem precíz feljegyzé- Cornell Capa (April 14, 1918 - May 23, 2008) Hungarian born American photographer, former president of the Magnum Photo Agency, founder of the International Center of Photography, younger brother of the world famous photojournalist, Robert Capa. Born Kornél Friedmann in Budapest, he went to Paris after graduating from senior school because he hoped that if he improved his school French he could enrol at medical school; because of his Jewish origin this was all but impossible in Budapest. His older brother Robert was already living there and Cornell earned his living by developing and printing Robert’s pictures and those of his friends David ’Chim’ Seymour and Henri Cartier-Bresson. He became increasingly involved in the milieu of the press and picture magazines; in 1937, giving up his ambition to become a doctor, he followed his mother to New York and settled there. He worked first at Pix photo agency and then at Life Magazine. He got a job in the lab and besides his work there, he became indispensable as the only person who could unravel Robert Capa’s mixture of Hungarian, German and French and write proper captions and reports from the somewhat vague notes that arrived with his rolls of negative. He became a Life photographer almost a decade later, in 1946. He later said of his profession: ’One thing the editors of Life and I agreed about from the start was that one war photographer was enough in the family. I would be a photographer of peace.’ However, his first picture appeared not in Life but in the British magazine Picture Post. Lorant Stefan, the legendary Hungarian picture editor, founder and editor in chief of Picture Post, used a picture of Cornell’s on the cover in June 1939, showing a father walking round the world exhibition in New York affectionately clasping his child in his arms. The caption was a little dramatic and senti­mental and knowing the history of the period, proved to be heartrendingly futile. It said that if every statesman put this picture up in his study and looked at it daily, perhaps the world would become the place every father wished for his child’s future. During his career as a photojournalist which lasted till 1974, Cornell Capa photographed a wide range of subjects. He worked hard for the magazine which used photographs of everyday life, he did

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