Robert Capa
Photographers

Robert Capa Net Worth

Robert Capa was a renowned war photographer and photojournalist who was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1913. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest war photographers of all time, having documented the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the First Indochina War. His photographs of the 1944 Normandy invasion and the liberation of Paris are particularly iconic. He was known for his bravery and willingness to risk his life to get the perfect shot, and his famous quote, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough". Tragically, he was killed while covering the First Indochina War when he stepped on a landmine. He was also the co-founder of the Magnum Photos agency, which was created to help other free-lancing photojournalists.
Robert Capa is a member of Photographers

Age, Biography and Wiki

Who is it? Photographer
Birth Day October 22, 1913
Birth Place Budapest, Hungarian
Age 107 YEARS OLD
Died On May 25, 1954(1954-05-25) (aged 40)\nThai Binh, Vietnam
Birth Sign Scorpio
Cause of death Stepping on landmine
Resting place Amawalk, New York
Occupation War photographer, photojournalist
Known for Most famous war photographer in history

💰 Net worth: $900,000 (2024)

Robert Capa, the renowned Hungarian photographer, has an estimated net worth of $900,000 projected for the year 2024. Capa, widely recognized for his powerful and evocative war photography, has left an indelible mark on the field of photojournalism. Known for his daring work during World War II and coverage of significant historical events, Capa captured the raw emotions and realities of warfare. His images have become iconic and have contributed to his success over the years, leading to his considerable net worth. Capa has proven to be an influential figure in the world of photography, showcasing his unparalleled talent and dedication to his craft.

Famous Quotes:

Immense excitement of moment made photographer Capa move his camera and blur the picture....As he waded out to get aboard, his cameras were thoroughly soaked.

Biography/Timeline

1913

He was born Endre Friedmann to the Jewish family of Júlia (née Berkovits) and Dezső Friedmann in Budapest, Austria-Hungary October 22, 1913. His mother, Julianna Henrietta Berkovits was a native of Nagykapos (now Veľké Kapušany, Slovakia) and Dezső Friedmann came from the Transylvanian village of Csucsa (now Ciucea, Romania). At the age of 18, he was accused of alleged communist sympathies and was forced to flee Hungary.

1930

The British magazine Picture Post ran his photos from Spain in the 1930s accompanied by a portrait of Capa, in profile, with the simple description: "He is a passionate democrat, and he lives to take photographs."

1931

As a young boy, Capa was drawn to the Munkakör (Employment Circle), a group of socialist and avant-garde artists, Photographers, and intellectuals centered around Budapest. He participated in the demonstrations against the Miklós Horthy regime. In 1931, just before his first photo was published, Capa was arrested by the Hungarian secret police, beaten, and jailed for his radical political activity. A police official's wife—who happened to know his family—won Capa's release on the condition that he would leave Hungary immediately.

1932

Capa's first published photograph was of Leon Trotsky making a speech in Copenhagen on "The Meaning of the Russian Revolution" in 1932.

1933

Capa originally wanted to be a writer; however, he found work in photography in Berlin and grew to love the art. In 1933, he moved from Germany to Paris because of the rise of Nazism and its persecution of Jews, but found it difficult to find work as a freelance Journalist. He changed his name to the more American-sounding name, Robert Capa, to avoid religious discrimination then Common in France, which allowed him to find work more easily.

1934

In 1934 "André Friedman", as he still called himself then, met Gerda Pohorylle, a German Jewish refugee. The couple lived in Paris where André taught Gerda photography. Together they created the name and image of "Robert Capa" as a famous American Photographer, and at the beginning of the war both Photographers published their work under the pseudonym of Robert Capa. Gerda took the name Gerda Taro and became successful in her own right. She travelled with Capa to Spain in 1936 intending to document the Spanish Civil War. In July 1937, Capa traveled briefly to Paris while Gerda remained in Madrid. She was killed near Brunete during a battle. Capa, who was reportedly engaged to her, was deeply shocked and never married.

1936

From 1936 to 1939, Capa worked in Spain, photographing the Spanish Civil War, along with Gerda Taro, his companion and professional photography partner, and David Seymour. Taro died when the motor vehicle on which she was travelling (apparently standing on the footboard) collided with an out-of-control tank. She had been returning from a photographic assignment covering the Battle of Brunete.

1938

In 1938, he traveled to the Chinese city of Hankou, now within Wuhan, to document the resistance to the Japanese invasion. He sent his images to Life magazine, which published some of them in its May 23, 1938 issue.

1940

Capa accompanied then Journalist and author Ernest Hemingway to photograph the war, which Hemingway would later describe in his novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Life magazine published an article about Hemingway and his time in Spain, along with numerous photos by Capa.

1943

In February 1943 Capa met Elaine Justin, then married to the actor John Justin. They fell in love and the relationship lasted until the end of the war. Capa spent most of his time in the frontline. Capa called the redheaded Elaine "Pinky," and wrote about her in his war memoir, Slightly Out of Focus. In 1945, Elaine Justin broke up with Capa; she later married Chuck Romine.

1944

The eleven prints that survived were included in Life magazine's issue on June 19, 1944. The article described how Capa got some of his shots:

1945

Some months later Capa became the lover of the Actress Ingrid Bergman, who was touring in Europe to entertain American Soldiers. In December 1945, Capa followed her to Hollywood, where he worked for American International Pictures for a short time. The relationship ended in the summer of 1946 when Capa traveled to Turkey.

1947

In 1947, Capa founded the cooperative venture Magnum Photos in Paris with Henri Cartier-Bresson, william Vandivert, David Seymour, and George Rodger. It was a cooperative agency to manage work for and by freelance Photographers, and developed a reputation for the excellence of its photo-journalists. In 1952, he became the President.

1948

Capa fled political repression in Hungary when he was a teenager, moving to Berlin, where he enrolled in college. He witnessed the rise of Hitler, which led him to move to Paris, where he met and began to work with Gerta Pohorylle. Together they worked under the alias Robert Capa and became photojournalists. Though she contributed to much of the early work, she quickly created her own alias 'Gerda Taro' and they began to publish their work separately. He subsequently covered five wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the First Indochina War, with his photos published in major magazines and newspapers.

1950

In the early 1950s, Capa traveled to Japan for an exhibition associated with Magnum Photos. While there, Life magazine asked him to go on assignment to Southeast Asia, where the French had been fighting for eight years in the First Indochina War. Capa was killed when he stepped on a land mine. He was 40 years old.

1953

He is credited with coining the term Generation X. He used it as a title for a photo-essay about the young people reaching adulthood immediately after the Second World War. It was published in 1953 in Picture Post (UK) and Holiday (USA). Capa said, "We named this unknown generation, The Generation X, and even in our first enthusiasm we realised that we had something far bigger than our talents and pockets could cope with."

1966

His younger brother, Cornell Capa, also a Photographer, worked to preserve and promote Robert's legacy as well as develop his own identity and style. He founded the International Fund for Concerned Photography in 1966. To give this collection a permanent home, he founded the International Center of Photography in New York City in 1974. This was one of the foremost and most extensive conservation efforts on photography to be developed. Indeed, Capa and his brother believed strongly in the importance of photography and its preservation, much like film would later be perceived and duly treated in a similar way. The Overseas Press Club created the Robert Capa Gold Medal in the photographer's honor.

2007

In December 2007, three boxes filled with rolls of film, containing 4,500 35mm negatives of the Spanish Civil War by Capa, Taro, and Chim (David Seymour), —which had been considered lost since 1939, were discovered in Mexico. In 2011, Trisha Ziff directed a film about those images, entitled The Mexican Suitcase.

2009

In 1947, for his work recording World War II in pictures, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Capa the Medal of Freedom Citation The International Center of Photography organized a travelling exhibition titled This Is War: Robert Capa at Work, which displayed Capa's innovations as a photojournalist in the 1930s and 1940s. It includes vintage prints, contact sheets, caption sheets, handwritten observations, personal letters and original magazine layouts from the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The exhibition appeared at the Barbican Art Gallery, the International Center of Photography of Milan, and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in the fall of 2009, before moving to the Nederlands Fotomuseum from October 10, 2009 until January 10, 2010.

2013

The government of Hungary issued a postage stamp in Capa's honor in 2013. That same year it issued a 5,000 forint ($20) gold coin, also in his honor, showing an engraving of Capa.

2014

The Boston Review has described Capa as "a leftist, and a democrat—he was passionately pro-Loyalist and passionately anti-fascist ..." During the Spanish Civil War, Capa travelled with and photographed the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), which resulted in his best-known photograph.

Some Robert Capa images

About the author

Lisa Scholfield

As a Senior Writer at Famous Net Worth, I spearhead an exceptional team dedicated to uncovering and sharing the stories of pioneering individuals. My passion for unearthing untold narratives drives me to delve deep into the essence of each subject, bringing forth a unique blend of factual accuracy and narrative allure. In orchestrating the editorial workflow, I am deeply involved in every step—from initial research to the final touches of publishing, ensuring each biography not only informs but also engages and inspires our readership.