The Photograph as False Document

The New York Times published an article the other day entitled "New Doubts Raised Over Famous War Photo" which highlighted the publication of a new book, “Shadows of Photography,” by José Manuel Susperregui, a communications professor at the Universidad del País Vasco, which concludes that Robert Capa’s famous picture "Falling Soldier" was taken not at Cerro Muriano, just north of Córdoba, but near another town, about 35 miles away, a town located far from the battle front of the Spanish Civil War. Mr. Susperregui suggests this means that “the ‘Falling Soldier’ photo is staged, as are all the others in the series taken on that front.”

This latest foree into the veracity of Capa's infamous image has brought the usual line-up of yea- & nay-sayers, including Buzz Hartshorn, the director of the International Center of Photography which stores Mr. Capa's archive, and the Spanish culture minister, the film director and screenwriter Ángeles González-Sinde. Mr. Susperregui certainly seems to have done his homework and the shadow of doubt cast on this work is darker than ever.

But what's really at stake here?

Indubitably, the invention of photography had an enormous impact on both the world of art and science. With the advent of the photographic process and its ability to document the world of the people that employed it, the practitioners of the 'classic' arts of painting and sculpture were freed from the world of documentation and reality. But even in its early, formative years there were those who saw photography as an opportunity to create images of allegory and fantasy. Julia Margaret Cameron & Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) participated in the English Victorian practice of dressing up friends and family and arranging them in religious or fanciful poses.

In France the photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson dressed up as the Comtesse Rose de Compiegne, creating a body of work that was the 19th century version of Cindy Sherman's Film Stills. Documents?
Sure! But the lady in question is a gentleman!

So as the work of Nadar begat the work of Atget begat the work of the Bechers, there has always been a counterpoint of photographers who's work questioned and refuted the documentary veracity of the photograph. The works of Man Ray, Tabard, Meatyard, Uehlsmann, Sherman & Demand have explored the process and construction of the photographic image. With the advent of the digital age, images are manipulated by the artists to remove or add information that should make anyone question how truthful any images is anymore.

Perhaps the real importance of this new discovery is its impact on the world of photojournalism. Robert Capa made his name by documenting the front of the Spanish Civil War and "Falling Soldier" was widely used as propaganda by the Left in its struggle over Franco's army. Capa was also the founder of the Magnum Agency, the first of its kind at the time and a magnet for the top photojournalists of its day. What does it mean if the founder of this particular branch of photography was actually staging images to influence the public? Is it the photojournalist's duty to observe and document, or to be allowed to use his art to portray personal beliefs and ethics?

Photojournalism's most powerful tool is its ability to document and influence at the same time. Think of how powerful certain images from the Vietnam War played in the public's mind and hearts. What if Eddie Adam's photograph of a suspected Viet Cong's execution had been staged? Or Nick Ut Cong Huynh's image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc and others fleeing the napalming of their village? How would we look back on our involvement and insistence on America's retreat from our involvement in a futile war?

If these new suspicions casts on Robert Capa's "Falling Soldier" are true, it will not so much shake our belief in "seeing is believing" (anyone with an ounce of cynicism has brought doubts to the 'truth' about photography) as make us reassess the prominence of a photographer who's fame will be tarnished and degraded by twisting the work of photojournalism into the art of invention.