Robert Capa’s the Falling Soldier was taken in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War with a Leica and black and white 35mm film. The image features a man falling over gun in hand on a hill, supposedly capturing the moment of him being hit with a bullet to the head. He flails backwards supposedly because of the impact. The photograph was first published in Vu on the 23rd September 1936, alongside another photograph of man on the floor. It has become one of the most well known war photographs of all time which “plunged viewers into the heart of the battle in way that now seem iconic, even cliched, but at the time were radically new: unsettling, nerve-wracking, scary” (Linfield, 2010, p.190), and gives a sense of reality to war; as Linfield (2010,
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yet , “The photograph was widely published without any questions ever being raised about its reliability as an unposed document”(Whelan, 2002). The debate argues whether Capa posed the soldier or not.
The image published alongside The Falling Soldier is a key element to the debate; “Some have claimed that the falling soldier and the photograph published along with it in Vu show the same man” (Whelan, 2002) however it’s widely believed that the two men are different people.
Whelan believes that “There’s no doubt that the two photographs are of different men”(Whelan, 2002), and many other agree based on a few core reasons, the first being the clothes the men wear are not the same;
The soldier in the first image wears dark shoes, the second wears white espadrilles. The first militiaman carries three ammunition pouches attached to wide leather shoulder straps; the second has only two pouches attached to his belt (Brothers, 1997, …show more content…
It went unquestioned for so long that it became “the classic war image, as well as the classic anti-war image, of the twentieth century” (Linfield, 2010, pg. 176) so much that Capa himself, according to Linfield (2010, pg.176), “was the most quintessential war photographer from the 1930’s until the mid 1950’s”. However, according to Brothers (1997, p.179) in 1974 Phillip Knightley and Gallagher first contested the authenticity of the photograph, suggesting it was staged during a quiet period on the front lines.
Gallagher (no date, cited in Whelan, 2002) suggested that Republican officers helped stage the scenes due to Capa and other photographers complaining about the lack of images that could be taken. In a later interview Gallagher (no date, cited by Whelan, 2002) claimed that it was not the republicans that staged the maneuvers but Franco’s troops; “Franco’s troops were dressed in ‘uniforms’ and armed and they simulated attacks and defence smoke bombs were used to give atmosphere” (Gallagher, no date, cited in Whelan, 2oo2). Whelan (2002) then states that Capa would have had no reason to be with Franco’s troops unless it was for him to be
yet , “The photograph was widely published without any questions ever being raised about its reliability as an unposed document”(Whelan, 2002). The debate argues whether Capa posed the soldier or not.
The image published alongside The Falling Soldier is a key element to the debate; “Some have claimed that the falling soldier and the photograph published along with it in Vu show the same man” (Whelan, 2002) however it’s widely believed that the two men are different people.
Whelan believes that “There’s no doubt that the two photographs are of different men”(Whelan, 2002), and many other agree based on a few core reasons, the first being the clothes the men wear are not the same;
The soldier in the first image wears dark shoes, the second wears white espadrilles. The first militiaman carries three ammunition pouches attached to wide leather shoulder straps; the second has only two pouches attached to his belt (Brothers, 1997, …show more content…
It went unquestioned for so long that it became “the classic war image, as well as the classic anti-war image, of the twentieth century” (Linfield, 2010, pg. 176) so much that Capa himself, according to Linfield (2010, pg.176), “was the most quintessential war photographer from the 1930’s until the mid 1950’s”. However, according to Brothers (1997, p.179) in 1974 Phillip Knightley and Gallagher first contested the authenticity of the photograph, suggesting it was staged during a quiet period on the front lines.
Gallagher (no date, cited in Whelan, 2002) suggested that Republican officers helped stage the scenes due to Capa and other photographers complaining about the lack of images that could be taken. In a later interview Gallagher (no date, cited by Whelan, 2002) claimed that it was not the republicans that staged the maneuvers but Franco’s troops; “Franco’s troops were dressed in ‘uniforms’ and armed and they simulated attacks and defence smoke bombs were used to give atmosphere” (Gallagher, no date, cited in Whelan, 2oo2). Whelan (2002) then states that Capa would have had no reason to be with Franco’s troops unless it was for him to be