The Life and Work of Gerda Taro (video)

Gerda Taro and Robert Capa, Paris], 1936, Gelatin silver print © Fred Stein
International Center of Photography

Introduced by John Morris (former picture editor Life, Magnum, New York Times)
Followed by Q&A. Location: 13 Norfolk Place, London, W2 1QJ

Irme Schaber speaks at the Frontline Club presentation on the Life and Work of Gerda Taro at 730 pm on Friday, October 17th. The presentation is part of the Frontline Club's In the Picture series.

While Gerda Taro's name is not well known, her collaboration with Robert Capa places her at the birth of contemporary photojournalism. Her work has been shown alongside Capa's in the This is War! exhibition which has traveled from ICP to the Barbican. John Morris, Magnum's first photo editor, will introduce the talk.

From the Frontline Club:

"Gerda Taro was a pioneering and largely unknown female photojournalist whose work consisted almost exclusively of dramatic photographs from the Spanish Civil War. Irme Schaber, Taro’s biographer and curator of the current exhibition at the Barbican will present and talk about a wide selection of Taro’s work.

Gerda Taro (1910-37) worked alongside Robert Capa, who was her photographic as well as romantic partner and the two collaborated closely. Her photographs were widely reproduced in the French press and incorporated the dynamic camera angles of New Vision photography as well as a physical and emotional closeness to her subject. While covering the crucial battle of Brunete in July 1937, Taro was struck by a tank and killed.

Irme Schaber is a writer and lecturer on the history of exile photography, photojournalism and print-media. She is currently researching the work and lives of Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel, two important German refugee photographers who were some of the earliest photographers for Life magazine."

Barbican Gallery exhibition London 17 Oct – 25 Jan 09

Gerda Taro Images and ICP original exhibition "This is War"