Blog | HPRG The Mexican Suitcase at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme from 27th February – 30th June 2013 – Hotels Paris Rive Gauche Blog

The Mexican Suitcase at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme from 27th February – 30th June 2013

It’s an incredible story – a suitcase belonging to Robert Capa found 70 years after being ‘lost’, containing thousands of negatives of the Spanish civil war.

After New York in 2010 and a presentation in Arles in 2011, the exhibition finally arrives in Paris at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme.

© Estate of David Seymour / Magnum International Center of Photography

The famous suitcase turned out to contain 4,500 carefully annotated negatives, images of the civil war taken by Capa, his professional partner Gerda Taro and David Seymour, often referred to as Chim.

These three Jewish photographers documented a conflict that not only changed the course of European history, but also the approach to and appreciation of wartime photo reporting. Presented as enlarged contact sheets, the exhibition shows for the first time the chronology of the shots, and some images are been displayed for the very first time.

© International Center of Photography / Magnum Collection International Center of Photography

A thick book of the photos has been published in French by Actes Sud (592 pages, 81€ here at amazon.fr, but the English version remains a lot cheaper. The museum has organised a conference by the book’s author Cynthia Young on Wednesday 27th February à 7.30pm.

Other conferences are also on offer, as well as a showing of Trisha Ziff’s film based on the project (to be shown in Spanish with English subtitles. You can even order the DVD cheaply here).

The exhibition La Valise Mexicaine, les négatifs retrouvés de la guerre civile espagnole (The Mexican Suitcase, the rediscovered photos of the Spanish Civil War) is at the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme (here) from 27th February – 30th June 2013

Open Monday to Friday from 11am – 6pm (9pm Wednesdays) and Sundays from 10am – 6pm. Closed Saturdays

Admission: 7€ / 4.50€

Official site in English: www.mahj.org

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Twitter: twitter.com/infosdumahj