Robert Capa - Photographs New York Monday, July 13, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Originally in the collection of Frank Stich, United States Army Air Force

  • Literature

    LIFE, 19 June 1944, Vol. 16, No. 24, ‘Beachheads of Normandy: The Fateful Battle for Europe is Joined by Sea and Air,’ p. 27
    Capa, Images of War, pp. 106-07
    Whelan, This Is War! Robert Capa at Work, pp. 245 and figs. 229, 233, 305, and 309
    Whelan and Cornell Capa, Robert Capa: The Definitive Collection, cover and p. 361
    Aperture, Robert Capa: Photographs, p. 100
    Jean-David Morvan and Severine Tréfouël, Omaha Beach on D-Day, cover and p. 58

  • Catalogue Essay

    On 6 June 1944 photographer Robert Capa landed with American forces on Omaha Beach to document the Allied invasion of France. Capa’s eleven extant D-Day images have since served as a visual reference point for that decisive day in history. The photograph offered here is arguably the most immediate and visceral of the group, taken at a low angle and showing the determination of its principal subject as he makes his perilous way from landing vessel to shore.

    The markings on the reverse of this print suggest that it is one of few surviving prints made during Capa’s lifetime. Magnum’s New York office was at the 64th Street address given on the stamp between 1953 and 1955. The print’s penciled notations indicate that it was in consideration for the Family of Man exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art; Edward Steichen and his team had concluded their selection process in mid-May of 1954, ahead of Capa’s death at the end of the month.

    This photograph comes originally from the collection of United States Army Captain Frank Stich of the 55th Squadron, Eighth Air Force, with whom Capa flew into Germany to continue his coverage of the war after D-Day. Capa warmly inscribed and signed a copy of his memoir Slightly Out of Focus to Stich: ‘To a comrade in arms—Frank Stich, 17 April 1947.'

21

D-Day Landing, Omaha Beach, Normandy

1944
Gelatin silver print, probably printed no later than 1954.
8 1/2 x 12 5/8 in. (21.6 x 32.1 cm)
'Magnum Photos, Inc., 17 East 64th Street New York’ credit stamp, printer stamps, annotated ‘Allied Graphic Arts-Family of Man’ in pencil, and with other notations in unidentified hands in pencil and crayon, all on the reverse of the flush-mount.

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $43,750

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairwoman, Americas

+212 940 1245
 

Photographs

New York Auction 13 July 2020