During the Salone del Mobile in Milan here I was able to visit the exhibition dedicated to photography Robert Capa. I visited Spazio Oberdan and I could see 78 photographs dedicated to Italy during the biennium 1943-1944.
I take the opportunity of the visit to the exhibition to show you some of the most spectacular photos of the war period, also and especially on the occasion of National Day 25 April.
This exhibition about Robert Capa (whose real name is Endre Ernő Friedmann) is dedicated to shots taken in Italy, but Hungarian photographer is known to many reports on conflicts harshest of the previous century and during World War II for having participated, almost at the forefront, at events like the terrible bombings in London, the campaign in Normandy and also the liberation of Paris.
Capa knew what to look for and what to do after finding it. Knew, for example, you can't portray the war, because it is primarily an emotion. But he managed to take that emotion getting up close. John Steinbeck
The photographs in black and white of this selection tell the Allied landing in Italy from Sicily to Anzio.
Capa, though he had never participated in the activities of war firsthand, followed the troops on the front line to give us masterpieces that have established him as the absolute father of photojournalism.
On second thought, thanks to him, and other photographers who have worked in equal measure, today we know the face of war, Today we have the historical memory to tell and talk about what happened in those years in Italy.
Robert Capa in Italy 1943 – 1944
In this post I propose 20 photographs taken by Robert Capa in Italy between the 1943 and 1944. All photographs belong to the online archive of Magnum that you can visit at this address.
American soldiers to Troina, in front of the Cathedral of Maria SS. Annunziata, 1943.
Welcome to American troops in Monreale Palermo suburb, late July 1943.
American soldier patrolling around Troina, 4 – 5 August 1943.
Monreale, just outside Palermo, civilians greet US troops, July 1943.
The city was partially destroyed by Allied bombing and slowly citizens survivors regain possession of their homes. Agrigento, July 17 – 18 1943.
Some civilians queuing for water distribution. The aqueducts were all destroyed by the German army on the run. October 1943.
Civilians welcome American troops arriving in Monreale, on the outskirts of Palermo. July 1943.
American soldiers during the liberation of Naples, September 1943.
Italian partisans who attacked the Germans in retreat before the arrival of US troops.
In July 1943 the allies landed in Sicily. Between the 1943 and 1945 fought against German forces and Fascist Italian troops from the Republic of Salò, that move slowly northward Italy. Palermo, July 1943.
Fort Schuster, a military outpost used by American troops to control the road leading to Naples. Chiunzi Pass, above Maiori, near Sorrento, September 1943.
Sicily. Palermo. July 1943.
Campanile, near Naples. September, 1943.
A member of the American Medical Corps, immediately after the liberation of the city. Palermo, 23 July 1943.
After an air raid by the allies. Agrigento, 17 – 18 July 1943.
A Sicilian peasant shows an American officer how the Germans had fled. Near Troina, 4 – 5 August 1943.
An Italian soldier trudging behind a column of his companions captured, in march to a prison camp. Near Nicosia, 28 July 1943.
Some women mourn at funeral 20 partisans adolescents of Liceo Sannazaro, in Vomero district. Led by one of their teachers, the boys had fought against the Germans to 4 days before the arrival of the Allies. in Naples, 2 October 1943.
An American soldier interrogates an Italian prisoner.
Sicily, August 1943.
A member of the American Medical Corps lends his care to a German POW. Sicily, July 1943.
In 1948 Robert Capa decided to end his career as a photographer with the documentation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His last service was for the magazine “Life” in 1954 when he was sent to witness the First Indochina War at following a squad of French troops. He died by jumping on a landmine.
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