As our research has made clear, ICP has to this day assiduously avoided even the most elementary investigation of Capa’s D-Day materials. Eschewing such inquiry effectively constitutes a passive obstruction of research. But Cornell Capa also took an active, aggressive approach to that same end. […]
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After Robert Capa’s death, Cornell Capa took physical possession of his negatives, handling licensing rights for Robert’s photos and writings, including passages from Slightly Out of Focus. This ensured that the string of subsequent Capa books, and books in which Capa’s images appeared — whether or not published directly through Cornell — frequently reiterated the D-Day myth. […] The promulgation of a fictionalized version of Robert Capa’s actions on D-Day and the subsequent fate of his Omaha Beach negatives constitute the worm in the apple, the rot at the very core of the foundation myth of the International Center of Photography — the Center’s “original sin,” as it were, the first skeleton in its closet. Known to ICP’s founder, Cornell Capa, Robert’s younger brother, as far back as 1944, the truth got papered over long before ICP was even a gleam in Cornell’s eye. […] We agreed to meet Morris for lunch once, him and his “bodyguards.” His issue was in fact our lack of “tact” in the way we cast light on the “Falling Soldier” story. He listened to our arguments. I must say I got a little frustrated, saying that we would fight to the end … my producer was wiser, and conceded. […] Cornell Capa’s intervention, as well as that of ICP’s lawyers, was rather brutal. They sent us threatening injunctions. We soon understood they would do whatever it took to stop us from making the movie. […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |