viernes, 15 de abril de 2011

CERRO MURIANO: LOCATION OF FIVE MORE PHOTOGRAPHS MADE BY CAPA AND PUBLISHED IN THE 24/10/1936 ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS

Text: José Manuel Serrano Esparza. LHSA

In the number of October 24, 1936 of the English newspaper Illustrated London News appear five photographs which were made by Robert Capa on September 5, 1936 


in the Finca of Villa Alicia, approximately 1 km in the southeast of the village of Cerro Muriano (Córdoba), between approximately between 12:00 and 12:30 h in the morning, unknown till now and that must be added to the only picture known so far of these moments (which can be seen on page 71 of the book Capa: Cara a Cara Fotografías de Robert Capa sobre la Guerra Civil Española de la Colección del Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía by Editorial Aperture, and also on page 85 of the Phaidon Editorial book Robert Capa Photographic Work, written by the true specialist in Capa Richard Whelan (with huge difference the world top authority of all time regarding the knowledge on both Bob´s photographic production and biography), in which we can see an anarchist militiaman, probably from Alcoy (Alicante) and belonging to the CNT or FAI, who standing on an elevated position, is addressing a speech to a numerous contingent of militiamen surrounding him and listening to his words, while on his left there´s a man with his head low and wearing a military cap and glasses, who is probably Captain Castañeda, one of the Republican military high officers loyal to the Republic and present in Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936 during the attack of the Francoist troops under the global command of general Varela.

In this already known image, the appearing Republican force is a mixture of Anarchist militiamen of CNT and FAI coming from Alcoy (Alicante), Andalusian militiamen wearing the typical attire of the area, a regular soldier loyal to the Republic with his helmet on, etc. They all are in the Finca of Villa Alicia, near the slope of the north side of Torreárboles hill.

Therefore, the vast majority of combatants are anarchist militiamen stemming from the most different occupations of civil society, who are going to fight very soon against the cream of the crop of the Spanish African Army, highly professional troops with long combat experience in colonnial war in Africa and that are already attacking the south side of Torreárboles hill.

We have been able to discover that on page 727 of the aforementioned October 24, 1936 number of The Illustrated London News, and under the title SPANISH MANHOOD IN CIVIL WAR: TYPES OF GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS, there are five pictures who were taken by Capa and Taro in the same place during the same harangue as the previously quoted photograph, that´s to say, in the Finca of Villa Alicia, approximately 1 km in the southwest of Cerro Muriano village.

They are five photographs that unlike the one already known (horizontal one and taken from a certain distance by Capa, who is standing on a somewhat elevated position and captures a lot of dozens of militiamen from the left border to the right one of the 35 mm frame exposed with his rangefinder camera Leica II Model D with a Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 non coated lens) were made by Capa and Taro approaching very much to their subjects:

a) Photograph located on the right lower area of page 727 of the October 24, 1936 number of the Illustrated London News.- Picture made by Robert Capa.

We see an anarchist militiaman wearing a CNT or FAI cap, captured laterally, with a framing whose upper boundary coincides with the most elevated area of the militiaman cap, while the lower one is delimited by approximately the zone just over the left arm elbow and the upper stomach area, and he is taking some small clear color objects on his chest, tied with strings, which are not distinctly discernible in the photograph.


This has been the key image for our identification, since this anarchist militiaman also appears in the aforementioned picture (page 71 of the Aperture Editorial book Capa: Cara a Cara Fotografías de Robert Capa sobre la Guerra Civil Española de la Colección del Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía, and on page 85 of the Phaidon Editorial book Robert Capa Photographic Work, written by Richard Whelan), on the central area of its right half.

He is the second man on the right of the Andalusian militiaman whose hat touches the painted white letters which can be seen on the top half of a car mostly concealed by the bodies of the many militiamen who are standing listening to the harangue addressed to them by an anarchist militiaman chief that is speaking from an elevated position.

He is undoubtedly the same person: identical face features, identical whiskers, the same hair cut, identical anarchist militiaman cap broken by usage on its upper left half and exactly the same handkerchief.

Capa made both pictures with very few seconds or minutes elapsing between them, albeit the photograph of this militiaman shown on the lower right half of The London Illustrated News hasn´t been captured by Capa from the somewhat elevated position from which he makes the horizontal picture including a lot of dozens of militiamen, two cars, a horse and tree branches and leaves on the upper zone of the 35 mm negative, but he has gone down to the ground, has made his way through the contingent of civilian combatants and has approached as much as possible to this anarchist militiaman wearing a splitted cap, photographing him from a very near distance, with a quick shot, whose framing, very tight, encompasses his head, chest and upper zone of his left arm, surprising the militiaman while he´s paying attention, with concern gesture, to the words of the man haranguing them.

b) Horizontal and very elongated photograph occupying the middle left half of page 727 of the October 24, 1936 number of The Illustrated London News.- Evidently, this image has been cropped by the editor, specially on its upper and lower half. This picture, taken from a very close distance, practically at point blank range, depicts a Republican militiaman looking upwards and listening to the words pronounced by an anarchist chief, who standing on an elevated position, is haranguing them, and of whom we can only see his left footwear along with the lower part of the left zone of his trousers.

This anarchist militiaman - of whom we see his head, neck and right shoulder- occupies almost the whole left half of the image, and is wearing a typical CNT or FAI anarchist militiaman cap.

It´s a very dramatic picture, for the militiaman, visibly worried and anxious (the Francoist troops are already attacking the Republican defenders of the south side of Torreárboles, a hill located near the place of the Finca of Villa Alicia in which this picture was made, so shots have been heard for a while) is paying great attention to the words of the anarchist chief who is ardently speaking to encourage them before combat.

Fidgets is perceptible. The militiamen have already been reported about the very near presence of general Varela´s legionnaires and specially the feared Tabor of Regulares Moroccan troops under the command of colonel Sáenz of Buruaga, that will highly probably try the encircling maneouver as soon as possible, by means of a fast movement stretching the front line, firstly striving after capturing the Finca de Las Malagueñas (on whose crest is located the advanced Republican command post in the area, under the command of major Juan Bernal), attacking it through its north side, in coordination with the central Francoist column under the command of major Alvarez Rementería (made up by 300 falangists and a section of the Engineer Company, who are already fighting against the Republican defenders of Las Malagueñas hill south side) and subsequently a further attack through the Finca of Villa Alicia to surprise the Republican defenders of the south side of Torreárboles hill (who have been fighting against the legionnaries of the Francoist left column under the command of major Sagrado) on their back.

Photograph taken by Gerda Taro, though the original square image was edited to an elongated rectangular aspect ratio to meet the paging needs of the British newspaper..

c) Horizontal photograph occupying the lower left area of page 727 of October 24, 1936 number of The Illustrated London News.- Image taken by Robert Capa.

We see two standing anarchist militiamen, who are attentively listening to the speech given to them by a militiamen chief from an elevated position.

Both have been captured by Capa, surprising them with a quick shot (the very small size of the binomial Leica III + non coated Leitz Summar 50 mm f/2 together with the hardly noticeable noise brought about by the rubberized cloth shutter featured by this rangefinder camera lacking a tilting mirror prove to be of invaluable help to discreetly get this image), and they reflect concern and anxiety on their faces. They do know that the feared elite troops of the Francoist Spanish African Army, sporting a lot of years of combat experience in ruthless colonial war in Morocco, are near.


The militiaman on the left is wearing a dark overalls, clear shirt and the typical anarchist CNT or FAI cap. He´s with arms akimbo and we can see his left hand leaned on his left hip.

The militiaman on the right is wearing a clear shirt and is holding on his chest, with his left hand, a dark garment which rests folded on his left shoulder, while his stretched right arm is at ease on the trunk of a tree. He´s also wearing a CNT or FAI cap.

These two militiamen are on a more distant spot from the man haranguing the militiamen than the other civilian combatants appearing in the rest of pictures captured by Capa and Gerda Taro throughout its duration, which confirms that both photojournalists moved through the militiamen during the whole duration of the speech, looking for various positions from which trying to take the best possible images of the different voluntary fighters from a number of angles and distances, sometimes in group and other times individual half-body pictures.

d) Square format photograph filling the upper left area of the top zone of page 727 of October 24, 1936 number of The Illustrated London News.-

Picture made by Robert Capa with his Leica II (Model D) and Leitz Elmar 5 cm f/3.5 lens. The picture was edited in square format after cropping some of the upper and lower area of the original 24 x 36 mm Eastman Kodak Nitrate Panchromatic 35 mm bulk loaded film used by Bob.

The Hungarian photojournalist of Jewish ascendancy, standing on a somewhat elevated position, and from a very short distance, has captured a group of militiamen of highly eclectic origin (three clad with berets civil volunteers of the rural domain, two Andalusian militiamen wearing the typical hat of this area of Spain, a militiaman with clear shirt and a military cap - probably captured during the two previous months- on his head, an anarchist militiaman of CNT or FAI occupying the upper central half of the frame, with only a third of his CNT or FAI cap visible and wearing dark overalls and a large white handkerchief around his neck, etc).

Two of the miltiamen are in deep introspection:

a) The young militiaman wearing clear shirt and a military cap on his head, located just on the right of the militiaman clad in dark overalls and a big white handkerchief around his neck. He has turned his head and is not looking at the anarchist chief giving the harangue, but immersed in deep introspection and probably thinking about his most beloved relatives.

b) The Andalusian militiaman located more on the right of the image, wearing a dar beret on his head, is visibly highly worried, thinking for himself, with his gaze lost, abundant stress on his face and is smoking a cigarette that he´s holding between the index and middle finger of his left hand, with which he tries to relax.

All the other militiamen are looking at the Anarchist chief (out of image), who from an elevated position standing on a large barrel (not visible in the image) is encouraging them with a harangue before the impending combat agianst the professional Francoist troops. 

They all (with the exception of the mentioned anarchist militiaman with clear shirt and a military cap on his head -located just on the right of the man with the big white handkerchief around his neck-, who has surprised Capa while making the photograph, and is staring at the camera, diacronically increasing the stress of the moment, 75 years after these instants), in the same way as the rest of militiamen appearing in the other pictures, are looking at the militiaman chief who is encouraging them with a harangue before the upcoming combat.

It´s important to realize that the militiaman wearing a dark overalls and a large white handkerchief around his neck, filling the upper middle area of this photograph made by Capa, also appears in the aforementioned picture made by Capa too (page 71 of the Aperture Editorial book Capa: Cara a Cara Fotografías de Robert Capa sobre la Guerra Civil Española de la Colección del Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía, and likewise on page 85 of the Phaidon Editorial book Robert Capa Photographic Work, written by Richard Whelan): he is in the lower right area of the image, sideways, just over the military cap worn on his head by a militiaman occupying the lower right corner of the photograph and clad with a clear shirt.

It all proves once more, without any doubt, that Capa and Taro risked their lives to take the pictures of the Republican militiamen in a very dangerous place at those moments (the parameters of colonial war in Africa meant most times the gruesome ´no prisoners´ policy within encircling manoeuvering areas, because speed of movement was a key factor for professional legionnaries and Regulares Francoist troops used to waging a kind of war with little columns infiltrated in enemy territory, often outnumbered and constantly running the risk of being surrounded and wiped out.

Robert Capa and Gerda Taro were there, they changed their positions in a lot of moments of the harangue, walking through the militiamen contingent, striving after getting the best possible photographs from different points and angles, trying to capture the very special atmosphere, stress, uncertainty, thrill, fear to the death, etc, experienced by the militiamen while they listened to the speech.

Therefore, this militiaman wearing an anarchist cap and a big white handkerchief around his neck, has been another of the key clues for the identification and location by elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com of these new five pictures made by Robert Capa and Gerda Taro in Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936.

In my viewpoint, this is a great picture, not complex, but showing the essence of very important events which are happening and which are going to remain indelible in the collective visual memory of millions of persons through generations.

But the meaning of this image is not only circumscribed to the capturing of an occurrence which is a significant piece of information and news at that moment, but also to the anxiety, hatred, courage, uncertainty, fear, high jitters and many more things felt during the pre death in combat, something that has unrelentingly gone on during the decades after 1936 and has been suffered by millions of human beings in uncountable wars waged all over the world.

The image features strength to spare, is full of symbolism and Capa has chosen to make the photograph in a zone in which there´s a high percentage of listening militiamen being between 30 and 50 years old, featuring even more heterogeneous origin and clothes (approximately half of the men visible in this picture are Andalusian militiamen mostly peasants and day laborers) than the militiamen appearing in the rest of images, who belong above all to CNT and FAI from Alcoy.

e) Vertical photography, filling the upper right area of page 727 of the October 24, 1936 number of The Illustrated London News.-

Image highly probably taken by Gerda Taro ( and later edited with 4:3 aspect ratio better adapting to the ILN 14 inches high and 10 1/2 inches wide page needs) with her medium format 6 x 6 cm Rolleiflex Standard K2 Model 622, with non coated Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7,5 cm f/3.8 lens and Compur shutter 1-1/500 sec, T & B, from a low position in right diagonal with respect to the chest and face of the anarchist militiaman, who is clad in a clear overalls, rawhide beltings and rectangular black leather poach for 7 x 57 mm Mauser ammunition, along with the typical anarchist handkerchief around his neck.

On the lower central extreme of the image, we can also see a canteen hanging from the militiaman´s waist, who on the other hand is grabbing with his right hand a bayonet on which rests a military cap probably captured some weeks before during the assault to some barracks supporting the Francoist side. Gerda Taro grasps the significance and gist of this gesture, which faithfully epitomizes the context for men lacking military instruction, with practically no skill in guns handling, who are going to fight within a few hours against the elite professional infantry made up by general Varela´s legionnaries and colonel Sáenz of Buruaga´s tabors of regulares.

Taro does fathom the deep dramatism lying behind the militiaman´s somewhat naive gesture: a very hard combat is impending, it will happen very soon, and these civilian armed men have no chance against highly professional troops with a lot of battle experience and not fearing the death.

Until a few weeks before, the men appearing in these five pictures have earnt their lives in the most common occupations, immersed in very toilful working days between 12 and 18 hours, both them and their wives, to be able to feed their children, under frequent conditions of laboral explotation, very poor or non existent sanitary and hygienic conditions, very stingy salaries, a lot of non paid hours under the constant threat of being dismissed at the smallest sign of protest, usual daily tasks in countryside or factories from dawn to dusk, and customary presence of children working both in the rural scope and big cities and villages alike.

The militiamen have already been reported that they´re going to be attacked by the Francoist troops of the Army of Africa, and these civilian combatants have decided to stay there, covering the backs of their comrades, who have been on the crest of Torreárboles hill for some days and are already fighting against the left wing column of the Francoist attack, made up by the legionnaires under the command of major Sagrado, who are attacking the south slope of the hill.

The militiamen who appear in these five pictures will be wiped out, many of them being killed in combat, but 75 years later, it seems apparent that bearing in mind the circumstances, they did everything they could, standing fast in their positions, before being beaten.

Nowadays, three generations later, in 2011, in my viewpoint, such a defeat acquires connotations of greatness.

It was necessary to have a lot of courage to be that day, at that moment and in that place on September 5, 1936, waiting for the onslaught of the Spanish African Army professional troops.

It is a hugely symbolic picture, which has been bestowed great significance in this page of the October 24, 1936 Illustrated London News number, since it is with difference the one reproduced in larger size and depicts faithfully the context and revolutionary spirit of armed civilian men coming from the most various working and social spheres (farmers, masons, day laborers, mechanics, peasants, textile workers, sewermen, print workers, etc) fighting for their ideals and that after a brave and stubborn resistance, will be annihilated by professional Francoist troops of the Army of Africa, made up by legionnaires and the feared Tabors of Regulares, which will manage to fulfill the encircling manoeuver around the Las Malagueñas and Torreárboles hills late in the evening of this September 5, 1936 in Cerro Muriano.


In my viewpoint, there´s a very high possibility that this photograph was made by Gerda Taro, according to her penchant for the creation of diagonals with the photographed people from a low position, in order to add more dramatism to the image, of which are previous examples the picture of five militiawomen (three of them being with their backs towards the camera) made by Taro on a beach in the outskirts of Barcelona, the picture of four Republican militiamen ( the second beginning from the left is wearing a dark beret, his right hand grabbing his rifle barrel and his left arm crossed over it) made in Aragon front, etc, which would confirm the thesis of Irme Schaber (with difference the greatest expert in the world on Gerda Taro photographic production and biography) that the German photojournalist had remarkably got acquaintanced with contemporary photography and made her pictures with a high technical and aesthetic standard, often using oblique compositions and striking taking angles, in which the diagonals and the low-to-mid-level horizontal line are very important elements of the composition.

In this photograph of the anarchist militiaman holding a military cap as a trophy, Taro highlights this civil combatant, showing him in a very near close-up, by means of a pronounced low-angle shot, creating a high impact graphic symbol greatly synthesizing the harsh reality of armed civilian men with hardly military instruction and previous handling of weapons, who are going to fight within a few hours against professional troops with years of real experience in ruthless combat in colonial war in Africa.

Needless to say that being at this spot of Finca of Villa Alicia (Cerro Muriano) in these moments on September 5, 1936, carried within a huge death danger both for Capa and Taro and the militiamen appearing in the images, because this was an area of maximum risk of encircling manoeuver by general Varela´s legionnaries and coronel Sáenz of Buruaga´s Tabors of Regulares alike.

All the evidence point at the confirmation of Richard Whelan´s thesis that Cziki Weisz, the expert Hungarian darkroom man working for Capa in Paris, a personal friend of his and the person who developed both Bob´s 35 mm films and Taro´s 6 x 6 cm films, had the habit of cutting individual frames or groups or two or three negatives from the film strips, because the most prestigious publications of the time (as happened with The Illustrated London News, Vu and Regards) insisted on making halftone plates from the original negatives, to get the maximum feasible image quality on their pages, so such groups of two or three negatives or individual negatives were cut by Cziki Weisz according to what was asked by the most top-notch illustrated magazines (which were the ones paying best for the pictures) and sent to their main seats, mainly in Paris and London, though Cziki Weisz always kept some negatives in stock along with high quality copies (gelatin silver prints) on black & white photographic paper, trying to satisfy the needs of other publications which could also be subsequently interested in Capa and Taro´s photographs.

Therefore, the discovery made by elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com that these five pictures were made by Robert Capa and Gerda Taro in Cerro Muriano area on September 5, 1936, is in our viewpoint significant, specially because of four main reasons:

1) Until now, it was believed that pictures made by both photojournalists in Cerro Muriano that day had only appeared in the September 23, 1936 number of Vu (four pictures of refugees fleeing fron the Francoist bombing of the village) and in the September 24, 1936 number of Regards (a photograph showing three regular Republican soldiers with their helmets on: two of them advancing towards Capa walking across a little path in slight ramp going towards the Casa de Las Malagueñas, an elegant country house dating back to the 20s, and located on the summit of the hill bearing the same name, which was the Republican advanced command post in the area. The nearest man to Bob is grabbing the barrel of a Maxim-Sokolov M1910 caliber 7.62 mm x 54R machine gun and taking it on his shoulder, while his left arm is far from his waist to counterbalance the weight of the quoted barrel; and the second one walking behind him is holding a big dark box of ammunition with his left hand and seems to be taking the solid steel wheels of the Maxim-Sokolov M1910 on his right shoulder) and now we know that five more and different pictures made by Capa and Taro that September 5, 1936 were sent to London and published in the October 24, 1936 number of The Illustrated London News.

2) It increases even more the historical prestige of the legendary British newspaper The Illustrated London News, founded on May 14, 1842, which was published until 2003, and throughout its history was one of the most important illustrated newspapers in the world, having an astounding figure of copies sold, together with a lot of world class writers and journalists including Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Robert L. Stevenson, Sir Charles Petrie, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Bryant, Wilkie Collins, G.K.Chesterton, etc.
Besides, The Illustrated London News (one of the flagship illustrated newpapers in United Kingdom during the Spanish Civil War, along with Picture Post, Sphere, etc) had already been in 1887 a pioneer in the introduction of half-tone method of reproduction of photographs directly on paper by using a screen of dots, a decisive milestone which allowed an easier insertion of pictures along with a major improvement in their quality that would result in a worldwide strengthening and spreading of first-string illustrated newspapers and magazines, with amazing sales figures and a golden period of Photojournalism).


3) It confirms even more that Capa and Taro performed a great photojournalistic role in Cerro Muriano, risking their lives to take good photographs and approaching as much as possible to the interesting subjects. They were there at the adequate moment and place, and they made the pictures

4) It verifies that the events happened in Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936, were of even higher significance than it was believed till now.

5) It corroborates that the role performed by Gerda Taro as a photographer was much more important than it was believed (as a matter of fact, at least two of the five pictures appearing in the October 24, 1936 ILN were made by her), something that we had already proved with our discoveries regarding the location of the places where Capa and Taro made in Cerro Muriano area the pictures of the refugees fleeing from the fascist bombardment of the village that September 5, 1936:

http://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2010/05/capa-and-refugees-of-cerro-muriano.html

6) Robert Capa and Gerda Taro realized that many of these men were going to die soon and both of them became fascinated on checking that they were ready to fight to the death for something in which they believed, so they did their best to capture with their cameras, with respect and sensitiveness, what they were seeing: the personality of these civilian combatants and the unique atmosphere of those moments immediately previous to the battle, which they managed to preserve for the eternity.

Capa and Taro were there and got the pictures.

7) There are very high chances that after the first publication in Vu September 23, 1936 (four pictures of refugees) and Regards September 24, 1936 (one picture of three Republican soldiers with their helmets on) magazines of photographs made by Capa and Taro in Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936, Maria Eisner (from her Alliance Photo office at 26 Rue de la Pépinière in Paris VIII) made contact with the Illustrated London News and offered them other photographs made by both
photojournalists also in Cerro Muriano on that same day September 5, 1936, for its publication in the Bristish newspaper, negotiating the price, and subsequently telling Cziki Weisz to send the original negatives of the new five pictures to the London main office of the ILN.

Capa had made contact with Maria Eisner for the first time in 1934, when Simon Guttmann (also a Hungarian and Director of Dephot Agency in Berlin for whom Bob had worked as a a darkroom assistant between 1932 and February 27, 1933) introduced him to her (who was then his French representative and photo agent) during one of his visits to Paris.

On her turn, Gerda Taro had been working for Alliance Photo as an assistant of Maria Eisner since October 1935, being paid 1,200 francs a month.

Bob began working regularly for Alliance Photo in March 1936, making three reportages a week and being paid a monthly advance of 1,100 francs, 500 of them for photographic stuff and expenditures.

Maria Eisner was aware of Andre Ernö Friedmann great photographic reportages made in the spring of 1935 as assignments offered to him by Simon Guttmann and Henri Daniel, which were highly profitable: The Daily Life of the Boxer Paulino Uzcudun, made in San Sebastián (published in Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung); the famous Spanish Pilot Lieutenant Colonel Emilio Herrera in Madrid trying to beat the world record of balloon ascending and reach an altitude of 25.000 meters (published in Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung and Vu); the great demonstration in Madrid on April 14, 1935, commemorating the fourth anniversary of the Spanish Republic proclamation (published in Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung); pictures for which Bob had gained great esteem by both Ullstein family and the editor-in-chief Kurt Korff, whose skilful methods applied in the editing of photographs and the use he made of them in the illustration of daily events had been a decisive factor for the spreading of outstanding German illustrated newspapers).

Maria Eisner also knew that though signed Gorta (a writer working for the Anglo-Continental Photo Agency run by her and Fritz Goro) the pictures of the two excellent reportages titled The Saar. Warning: High Tension (appeared in
Vu November 7, 1934) and The Saar. Its inhabitants´ opinion ... and who they are going to vote for ( Vu November 21, 1934) had been really made by Endre Ernö Friedmann.

She also knew the famous photographic reportage of Leon Trotsky lecture at Copenhaguen University made by Endre Ernö Friedmann under Simon Guttman´s assignment in late November 1932 and published in Der Welt Spiegel December 11, 1932 number.

She was likewise abreast of the fact that Endre Ernö Friedmann had worked since november 1935 as a picture editor for a Japanese graphic monthly magazine published in Paris and belonging to Mainichi Editorial.

So, Maria Eisner, trusting very much in Bob´s photographic talent and courage (something about which she had previously spoken with André Kerstész, who had seen a lot of pictures made by Endre Ernö Friedman and agreed with Eisner´s opinion) played along with Taro´s smart idea, offering to sell Endre´s and Gerda´s pictures with the credit ´Capa´, guessing in advance that Taro would virtually act as his manager from that moment on. And it worked.

Therefore, the legendary picture editor and agent Maria Eisner Lehfeldt, who established the Alliance Photo Agency in late 1934, becoming agent of the photographers René Zuber and Pierre Boucher, and from 1935 managing the photographic work of Pierre Verger, Denise Bellon, Feher, David Seymour "Chim", Henri Cartier-Bresson and many more, was along with Cziki Weisz a key figure for the publication of these five new pictures in the ILN of October 24, 1936, without forgetting that she would have a decisive role, eleven years later, in the creation of Magnum Agency in 1947, gathering Robert Capa, George Rodger, David Seymour Chim, Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Vandivert.


This way, three generations after the events that September 5, 1936 in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba) and already in the second decade of XXI Century, evidence seem to prove that besides the negatives exposed by Capa and Taro such September 5, 1936 in Cerro Muriano that he sent to the main seats of Vu and Regards and whose images appeared respectively in the numbers of these two illustrated magazines of September 23, 1936 and September 24 of the same month, Cziki Weisz also sent from Paris (either during the second half of September 1936 or the first half of October 1936 and under the supervision of Maria Eisner) to the main headquarters of The Illustrated London News in London five original negatives of other pictures made by Capa and Taro in Cerro Muriano (Bob´s Eastman Kodak Panchromatic Nitrate Leica 35 mm film and Taro´s medium format 2 1/4 inches square negatives -probably Agfa Gevaert- taken with her binocular Rolleiflex Standard Leverwind) on that same September 5, 1936 day in the area of Cerro Muriano and which are the five ones appearing in the Illustrated London News of October 24, 1936.


Text inscribed in the Territorial Registry of The Intellectual Property of Madrid
Copyright José Manuel Serrano Esparza. LHSA

Other articles on Robert Capa and Gerda Taro in Cerro Muriano:

Gerda Taro: Centenary of her Birth and Identification on a September 5, 1936 picture made in Cerro Muriano Area

Three More Pictures Made by Robert Capa in Cerro Muriano Area and its Surroundings Located

Cerro Muriano: A New Photograph Made by Capa or Gerda Taro on September 5, 1936 Found and Located

Two More Pictures Made by Gerda Taro in Cerro Muriano and Unknown Till Now Discovered and Located: Moments of PreDeath

Cerro Muriano: Discovered and Located a New Photograph made by Robert Capa on September 5, 1936. Moments of PreDeath ( I I )

Cerro Muriano 75th Anniversary ( I ) : Capa and Taro arrived two or three days before September 5, 1936

Cerro Muriano 75th Anniversary ( I I ) : The Keys of the Escape of the Village Civil Population during the Afternoon Deciphered