Death in the Making

Death in the Making (1938) is a photographic book by Gerda Taro and Robert Capa that documents the Spanish Civil War. It was published by Covici · Friede Publishers while the conflict was still underway. It is dedicated to Taro, who died in the battlefield the year prior.[1] The book also includes photographs by David Seymour and André Kertész. Though the photographs are credited to Robert Capa, Capa has written that the work was a collective project by both photographers and that the photographs “are interspersed and unattributed.” Taro is also thought to have been excluded from authorship for fear that publishers would take a female photographer less seriously.[1] This book helped to cement Capa's and Taro's reputations as leading war photographers and pioneers in photojournalism.[2]

The title page of Death in the Making (1938), a photo book by Gerda Taro and Robert Capa.

The book's photograph the daily events of the war from the anti-fascist, Republican side of the conflict that battled the Nationalists led by Francisco Franco.[3] The sections of the book include such titles as "The War of the Man on the Street", "Front in Andalusia", and "Women in the War."[4] Journal-like entries accompany the photographs, describing the content of the photographs in a stream of consciousness style. [5]

At age 26, Gerda Taro is purported to be the first female photographer killed in a war front. The book's dedication reads: “For Gerda Taro, who spent one year at the Spanish front – and who stayed on.” [4]