According to the British Journal of Photography, the Barbican Art Gallery will be the first exhibition space in the world to host a recently-discovered collection of photographs by war photographer Robert Capa.
The "Mexico Suitcase", a collection of 3,500 negatives shot by Capa and Magnum co-founder 'Chim' Seymour, plus Capa's girlfriend Gerda Taro, was bought from the descendant of a Mexican general by the International Centre for Photography at the beginning of the year. After months of assessment and cataloguing, the negatives, which were shot in the late 1930s, are set to be displayed around the world, with Londoners given the opportunity of seeing them first.
Fans of photographic lore, however, will be disappointed to know that the collection sheds no further light on Capa's signature image - indeed one of the most famous photographs in the world - "The Falling Soldier", which captures the moment Republican soldier Federico Borrell García was shot dead during the Spanish Civil War. Long debated by photo-historians, many of whom believe the arresting image was staged, the new-found negatives sadly offer no more clues as to the photograph's authenticity.
The Barbican's exhibition will open in October.
