Children of War, Children of Peace: Photographs

Whelan ( Robert Capa ), who sorted through some 70,000 negatives to select the 130 duotone images included here, found that children constitute a major theme in the war photographs of Robert Capa (1913-1954), known for his contributions to Life magazine. Cornell Capa, the photographer's brother, writes, ``A child of peace was for Robert a child who was spared the horrors of war, a child whose peace had been won at a terrible cost, a child whose happiness was therefore all the more precious.'' This collection turns a sympathetic, apolitical eye on children caught up in the instability of Europe, America and the Far East between 1933 and 1954. Capa's subjects express curiosity, delight, solemnity and confusion; they react to patriotic parades and air battles, flee their homes as enemy troops approach, play during times of uneasy peace. Powerful and unsentimental, this volume captures the unself-conscious spontaneity of children. (Sep.)