capa

in case you missed it. from the new york times today...

The Capa Cache


“The Falling Soldier” by Robert Capa

The discovery has sent shock waves through the photography world, not least because it is hoped that the negatives could settle once and for all a question that has dogged Capa’s legacy: whether what may be his most famous picture — and one of the most famous war photographs of all time — was staged. Known as “The Falling Soldier,” it shows a Spanish Republican militiaman reeling backward at what appears to be the instant a bullet strikes his chest or head on a hillside near Córdoba in 1936. When the picture was first published in the French magazine Vu, it created a sensation and helped crystallize support for the Republican cause.

Doubts about the photograph have persisted. In part this is because Capa made no pretense of journalistic detachment during the war and was known to photograph staged maneuvers, a common practice at the time. The discovery of a negative, especially in the original sequence showing all the images taken before and after the shot, could end the debate.

Photo: Robert Capa/I.C.P. Collection

betty

I recently had the pleasure of seeing six Gerhard Richter paintings in the same room at the St. Louis Art Museum. Anyone who has the chance should go see them. You can get right up to "Betty" without the alarms going off and four of the gray abstraction paintings are up right next to her. The focus on the twist of the shoulder is so tight it really is amazing.

Last semester I wrote a paper for a contemporary painting and sculpture class about "Betty" and Richter's collective body of work. I was really intrigued by the idea of subverting painting or rather saying that painting has become redundant because of what Richter has accomplished.

The bottom image is from Tim Davis' "Permanent Collection" series. I don't know what I think of it.