Hebrew Lesson, Brooklyn, New York

Cornell Capa was a photojournalist for Life magazine and the founder of the International Center for Photography in New York. Born Cornell Friedmann in Budapest, Capa was introduced to photography by his photojournalist brother, Robert. Targeted for his leftist political activities, Robert left Hungary for Paris in 1931, adopting the name Capa; in 1936, Cornell followed him to Paris and began working for him making prints, taking the same name as well. In 1937, Cornell Capa moved to New York to pursue his own career, becoming a staff photographer at Life in 1946 and covering hundreds of assignments in the United States and abroad. Upon the death of his brother in 1954, Capa left Life to join the cooperative photography agency Magnum Photos, which had been cofounded by Robert. Capa’s political consciousness took form in his strong, graphic photographs, which, beyond their documentary function, also mediated issues of social justice.