Eric Setiawan’s Journal

Lost Robert Capa, David Seymour and Gerda Taro negatives discovered

January 28, 2008—The International Center of Photography announced the discovery of a cache of over 3,500 negatives of the Spanish Civil War by Magnum Photographers and Founders, Robert Capa, David Seymour and Capa’s former partner Gerda Taro, three of the most significant war photographers of the twentieth century.

The negatives, created between 1936 and 1939, portray Spanish Republican soldiers, civilians in daily life and in battle and portraits of artists and writers such as Frederico Garcia Lorca and André Malraux.

The rolls were in small cardboard boxes, as well as some short strips of negatives. Some images are identified by photographer; other attributions are based on comparison to known works by the three photographers.

The negative archive (referred to as the “Mexican Suitcase,”) was left by Robert Capa when he fled Paris in 1939 to come to America, and was presumed lost until it mysteriously appeared in Mexico in 1995. Exactly how the negatives reached Mexico is not definitively known.

As soon as the newly discovered “Mexican Suitcase” work is available for reproduction, it will be added to Magnum Photos on-line archive. An announcement will be made on Magnum’s website (www.magnumphotos.com) when available for viewing and licensing.