Book Review: Blood and Champagne, by Alex Kershaw

An Unauthorized Biography of Robert Capa

INTRODUCTION

Having spent my childhood in the 60s through 80s of the last century in the southeast of the Netherlands near the German border, I remember playing in the demolished remnants of the bunkers of the Westwall (Siegried Line) and seeing the dragon's teeth anti-tank devices just over the border near Aachen, Germany.

And with parents and other family members who lived through the Second World War, that period in history always has had my interest—specifically concerning what happened in the so-called European Theather of Operations (ETO).

Combine this interest with my passion for photography, and it will not be a surprise that I loved reading this unauthorized biography of probably the most famous photographer of World War 2 and the decades immediately before and after that terrible period in history.

The author, Alex Kershaw (England, 1966), is a journalist, public speaker and the author of several best-selling books. His journalism includes investigative pieces, reportages, and interviews with a broad range of subjects. He also has led many battlefield tours of Europe.

Technical data:

• Published: 2003 (first US edition)

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

• ISBN: 0-312-31564-3

• Size: 6 3/8” x 9 1/2” x 1”

• Available on Amazon and eBay

The book has 23 chapters, each based on an important stage of Capa's life.

Furthermore, it contains:

• a List of Illustrations;

• Acknowledgements;

• a foreword/introduction by the author

• an Epilogue

• Notes

• Bibliography

• Index

It also includes a section with 26 images: 18 are images of Capa, and 8 are images of his friends or acquaintances (the book does not have any pictures made by Capa).

REVIEW

Kershaw's narrative provides a unique insight into the life and background of the man André Friedman, who became the famous war photojournalist Robert Capa.

The author provides the background story to Capa's work and insight into the photographers' community from the 1930s to the 1950s. Reading Capa's story made me realize how much happened in the relatively short period of 3 decades that he was active: the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese-Japanese wars, World War 2, Korea, and Indo-China.

It, therefore, should not be a surprise that Capa's lifestyle and restlessness show symptoms of what we currently probably would associate with PTSD.

Capa was a photojournalist. But he was also a passionate photographer. One of the gems I found in the book was a quote from John Steinbeck ('Popular Photography' September 1954): "It does seem to me that Capa has proved beyond all doubt that the camera need not be a cold mechanical device. Like the pen, it is as good as the man who uses it. It can be the extension of mind and heart." [p. 1]

While he tried his hands at other trades, fortunately for the world Capa "decided to become a photographer, which was the nearest thing to journalism for anyone who found himself without a language." [p. 16]

Whether this was because his German - and later English - seemed not to have been the best or for other reasons, it shows that photography is a universal language. 

As the author observes, "like nothing else, a still photography conjures up vivid memories." [p. 4]. Eva Besnyö, a friend of Capa and a great photographer in her own right, already realized that "Photographs could be a socially conscious artist's means of showing truth to the world, thereby helping to change it." [p. 14]

Capa embraced this notion, as Pierre Gassman noted: "He wanted to show people things they had never seen. He wanted to shock and surprise." [p. 24]

Capa achieved this with his unique style of getting as close as possible to his subjects, which he developed early in his career. Already during his first assignment, photographing Trotsky, "he had got within a few feet of his subject" [p. 19]

Capa later explained his "trademark intimacy and intensity." [p. 19] with his famous words, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." [p. 164]

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This book is an impressive biography of one of the great, if not the greatest, photojournalists of the 20th century.

It provides a unique, intimate insight into Robert Capa's life, the 'how' and 'when' of some of the most famous images of that era, and the photographer's community during the heydays of photojournalism.

A 'must read' for anyone interested in photojournalism, the era from the Spanis Civil War until the origins of the Vietnam War, or the photographers' community from the 1930s to the late 1950s.

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Reading, And Learning From Photography Books

2021 Book Review Schedule

With last year having been as it was, I did not want to post a review of 2020. And since we are still in the mids of a pandemic, looking forward to 2021 is a bit tricky. So I decided to not have a looking-back-looking-forward article at the start of this year.

However, this does not mean that I did not set some goals for my photography and this year's blog posts and one of the goals I have set for 2021 regarding the blog is to conduct 12 photography book reviews.

There is an abundance of photography books available, covering a lot of genres and topics. Therefore, to keep this effort manageable and cost-effective, the books I have selected (see list below) had to meet specific criteria:

• First of all, I want to start with books I already have, which means I don't have to spend any money on new books. And more importantly, it forces me to re-read and re-enjoy the books I am going to review.

• The books I will review have to be (social) documentary or candid street photography focused.

• Their content must provide specific learning points; e.g., improving my ability to see the world as a candid/documentary photographer.

• They must trigger new ideas for my projects: street or documentary topics and how to approach these.
  

Consequently, I will not include books with or about: fine art photography, technical aspects of photography only, or gear and tools.

Each of the books I will review covers one or more of the following:

• (auto) biography of a (social) documentary photographer;

• info about the events and circumstances the photogs had to work in;

• examples of documentary photography with background info;

• examples of documentary photography essays.

Also, the header of this article mentions Photography books and not Photobooks. Although some of the titles included can be considered photo books, my reviews cover a broader area like biographies and history books.

As an example of what to expect, check out my articles about David Hume Kennerly's book "Shooter", Simon Gabriel’s “On Ground”, and my comparison of “Abandoned America” and “Autopsy of America”.

The books I will cover this year are:

Hold Still [autobiography by Sally Mann]

Abu Dhabi - Life And Times [overview of the body of work of Noor Ali Rashid]

Lost London [documenting London from vintage pictures]

Armed With Cameras [history of the American military photographers of World War II]

Blood And Champaign [biography of Robert Capa]

Kids [an overview of Elliott Erwitt's candid images of children]

A Thousand Crossings [an overview of Sally Mann's body of work]

Imagining The Twentieth Century [documentary single images and essays]

The Genius Of Photography [documentary single images and essays]

The Modern Century [an overview of Henry Cartier Bresson's body of work]

Trip [a photographic essay by Susan Lipper]

Vivian Maier - Street Photographer [an overview of Maier’s body of work]

I hope you are as excited about these upcoming articles as I am. To ensure you won't miss any, subscribe with the form below!