ICP – The Mexican Suitcase
Cynthia Young, Interview
In December 2007, three boxes filled with rolls of film, containing 4,500 35mm negatives of the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and Chim (David Seymour), which had been considered lost since 1939, arrived at the International Center of Photography. These three photographers, who lived in Paris, worked in Spain, and published internationally, laid the foundation for modern war photography. Their work has long been considered some of the most innovative and passionate coverage of the Spanish Civil War (1936–-1939). Many of the contact sheets made from the negatives are on view as part of the exhibition, which look closely at some of the major stories by Capa, Taro, and Chim as interpreted through the individual frames. These images are seen alongside the magazines of the period in which they were published and with the photographers’ own contact notebooks.
The exhibition was organized by ICP Curator Cynthia Young and first opened at ICP in 2011. Since then it has been presented in many museums around the world. This month – July 23 – opens at the Caixa Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Cynthia Young, ICP’s curator of the exhibition, talked to Eleni Zymaraki Tzortzi, sharing interesting points, views and impressions about the exhibition and the impact it had on people so far.
