Josef Koudelka

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Josef Koudelka (born 10 January 1938) is a Czech-French photographer. He is a member of Magnum Photos<ref name="theguardian-smyth">Template:Cite news</ref> and has won awards such as the Prix Nadar (1978), a Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), a Grand Prix Henri Cartier-Bresson (1991), and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (1992). Exhibitions of his work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography, New York; the Hayward Gallery, London; the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

Biography

Koudelka was born in 1938 in the small Moravian town of Boskovice, Czechoslovakia.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008">Template:Cite news</ref> He began photographing his family and the surroundings with a 6×6 Bakelite camera. He studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) in 1956, receiving a degree in engineering in 1961.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> He staged his first photographic exhibition the same year. Later he worked as an aeronautical engineer in Prague and Bratislava.

Koudelka began taking commissions from theatre magazines, and regularly photographed stage productions at Prague's Theatre Behind the Gate on a Rolleiflex camera.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> In 1967, he decided to give up his career in engineering for full-time work as a photographer.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/>

Between 1962 and 1971, Koudelka travelled throughout Czechoslovakia and rural Romania, Hungary, France and Spain photographing Romani people.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2011">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Romani led a nomadic lifestyle and each summer Koudelka would travel for the project, "carrying a rucksack and a sleeping bag, sleeping in the open air, and living frugally".<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2011"/>

He had returned from photographing Romani people in Romania just two days before the Soviet invasion, in August 1968.<ref name="theguardian-1968">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He witnessed and recorded the military forces of the Warsaw Pact as they invaded Prague and crushed reforms of the so-called Prague Spring.<ref name="theguardian-1968"/> Some of Koudelka's negatives were smuggled out of Prague to the Magnum Photos agency, and published anonymously in The Sunday Times Magazine under the initials P. P. (Prague Photographer) for fear of reprisal to him and his family.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Koudelka's pictures of the events became dramatic international symbols, and came to be "recognised as one of the most powerful photojournalistic essays of the 20th century".<ref name="theguardian-1968"/> In 1969 the "anonymous Czech photographer" was awarded the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal for photographs requiring exceptional courage. Many of his photographs of these events were not seen until decades later.<ref name="theguardian-1968"/>

With Magnum to recommend him to the British authorities, Koudelka applied for a three-month working visa and fled to England in 1970, where he applied for political asylum and stayed for more than a decade.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> In 1971 he joined Magnum as an Associate Member<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> and became a Full Member in 1974. He continued to wander around Europe with his camera and little else.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Koudelka sustained his work through numerous grants and awards, and continued to exhibit and publish major projects like Gypsies (1975) and Exiles (1988).<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> Sean O'Hagan, writing in The Observer in 2011, described Gypsies as "a classic of documentary photography".<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2011"/> Since 1986, he has worked with a panoramic camera and issued a compilation of these photographs in his book Chaos in 1999. Koudelka has had many other books of his work published, including in 2006 the retrospective volume Koudelka.

He and his work received support and acknowledgment from his friend the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> He was also supported by the Czech art historian Anna Farova.<ref name=rp>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1987, Koudelka became a French citizen, and was able to return to Czechoslovakia for the first time, in 1990.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> He then produced Black Triangle, documenting the wasted landscape in the Podkrušnohoří region, the western tip of the Black Triangle's foothills of the Ore Mountains, located between Germany and the Czech Republic.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/><ref name="independent-hodgson">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Koudelka lives in France and Prague and is continuing his work documenting the European landscape.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> He is the father of two daughters,<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/> one being Lucina Hartley Koudelka,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and a son, Nicola Koudelka.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Work

Koudelka's early work significantly shaped his later photography, and its emphasis on social and cultural rituals as well as death. He soon moved on to a more personal, in depth photographic study of the Gypsies of Slovakia, and later Romania. This work was exhibited in Prague in 1967. Throughout his career, Koudelka has been praised for his ability to capture the presence of the human spirit amidst dark landscapes. Desolation, waste, departure, despair and alienation are common themes in his work. His characters sometimes seem to come out of fairytales. Still, some see hope within his work – the endurance of human endeavor, in spite of its fragility. His later work focuses on the landscape removed of human subjects.

His most recent book, Wall: Israeli and Palestinian Landscapes, was published by Aperture Foundation in 2013.<ref name="theguardian-smyth"/> This book is composed of panoramic landscapes that he made between 2008 and 2012, as his project for the photography collective This Place, organized by photographer Frédéric Brenner.<ref name="NYT, The Lens">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A documentary about Koudelka's work there, Koudelka Shooting Holy Land, was released in 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Publications

  • Diskutujeme o morálce dneška. Czechoslovakia: Nakladatelství Politické Literatury, 1965.
  • Kral Ubu: Rozbor inscenace Divadla Na Zábradlí v Praze (with Alfred Jarry). Czechoslovakia: Divadelní Ústav, 1966.
  • Rozbor insenace Divadla Na zábradlí v Praze, 1966.
  • Josef Koudelka, 1968.
  • Gitans = Gypsies
    • Gitans: la fin du voyage. Paris: Delpire, 1975. ASIN B0014M0TV8.
    • Gypsies. New York: Aperture, 1975. Template:ISBN.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2011"/>
    • Gypsies. New York: Aperture, 2011. Revised and enlarged edition. Template:ISBN. With an essay by Will Guy.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2011"/>
    • Roma. Göttingen: Steidl, 2011. Template:ISBN. German language edition.
  • Josef Koudelka: I Grandi Fotografi. Italy: Fabbri, 1982.
  • Josef Koudelka. Photo Poche, Centre National de la Photographie, France, 1984.
  • Josef Koudelka. Photographs by Josef Koudelka. Introduction by Bernard Cuau. Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, 1984.
  • Exiles.
    • Paris: Centre National de la Photographie; Paris: Delpire; New York: Aperture; London: Thames & Hudson, 1988. Template:ISBN.
    • Revised edition. Paris: Delpire; New York: Aperture, 1997.
    • Revised and expanded edition. London: Thames & Hudson (Template:ISBN); New York: Aperture, 2014 (Template:ISBN). Essay by Czesław Miłosz. Commentary with Josef Koudelka and Robert Delpire.
  • Josef Koudelka, Mission Photographique Transmanche. France: Différence, 1989.
  • Animaux. France: Trois Cailloux/maison de la Culture d'Amiens, 1990.
  • Prague 1968. France: Centre National de la Photographie, 1990.
  • Josef Koudelka: Fotografie Divadlo za branou 1965–1970. Czech Republic: Divadlo za Branou II, 1993.
  • Josef Koudelka. Photographs by Josef Koudelka. Hasselblad Center, 1993.
  • Černý Trojúhelník – Podkrušnohoří : Fotografie 1990–1994 (The Black Triangle: The Foothills of the Ore Mountain). Czech Republic: Vesmír, 1994.<ref name="independent-hodgson"/>
  • Photopoche: Josef Koudleka. France: Cnp, 1997. Template:ISBN.
  • Reconnaissance Wales. Cardiff, UK: Fotogallery/ National Museums and Galleries of Wales, 1998. Template:ISBN.
  • Chaos. France: Nathan/Delpire; UK: Phaidon Press; Italy: Federico Motta Editore, 1999. Template:ISBN.<ref name="independent-halliburton">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Lime Stone. France: La Martinière, 2001.
  • Josef Koudelka. Czech Republic: Torst, 2002. Template:ISBN.
  • Théâtre du Temps. France: Actes Sud. Template:ISBN; (Teatro del Tempo), Italy: Peliti Associati; Greece: Apeiron, 2003.
  • L'épreuve totalitaire. Paris: Delpire, 2004. With an essay by Jean-Pierre Montier.
  • Koudelka: Camargue. France: Actes Sud, 2006. Template:ISBN.
  • Koudelka. France: Delpire; Italy: Contrasto; New York: Aperture; UK: Thames & Hudson; Germany: Braus; Spain: Lunwerg; Czech Republic: Fototorst, 2006.
  • Joseph Koudelka Photofile. Thames & Hudson, 2007. Template:ISBN.
  • Invasion 68: Prague. New York: Aperture. Template:ISBN; France: Tana. Template:ISBN, 2008.
  • Koudelka Piedmont. Contrasto, 2010. Template:ISBN.
  • Lime. Paris: Xavier Barral, 2012. Template:ISBN.
  • Wall. New York: Aperture, 2013. Template:ISBN.<ref name="theguardian-smyth"/>

Awards

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Exhibitions

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  • 1984 – Josef Koudelka, Hayward Gallery, London. An exhibition of the Prague invasion pictures, crediting Koudelka for the first time.<ref name="theguardian-ohagan-2008"/>
  • 1988/89 – Josef Koudelka, Centre national de la photographie, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; International Center of Photography, New York; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; IVAM, Valencia, Spain.
  • 1989 – Josef Koudelka, Mission Transmanche, CRP Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste, Douchy-les-Mines, France
  • 1990 – Josef Koudelka z Fotografického dila 1958–1990, Umeleckoprumyslové museum, Prague
  • 1994 – Černý trojúhelník – Podkrušnohoří : Fotografie 1990–1994 = The Black Triangle : the foothills of the Ore mountains, Salmovsky Palac, Prague
  • 1995/97 – Periplanissis: following Ulysses' Gaze, Mylos, Thessaloniki, Greece; Zappeion, Athens; Centre culturel Una Volta, Bastia, France; ville de Rodez, France; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo; Museo di Storia della Fotografia, Fratelli Alinari, Firenze, Italy.
  • 1998 – Reconnaissance: Wales, National Museum and Gallery of Wales, Cardiff, UK
  • 1998 – From Behind the Iron Curtain, Lyttleton foyer, Royal National Theatre, London<ref name="independent-halliburton"/>
  • 1999/2001 – Chaos, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Cantieri Culturali della Zisa, Palermo, Italy; Palazzo Marino alla Scala, Milan; The Snellman Hall, Helsinki; sala de exposiciones de Plaza de España, Madrid.
  • 2002 – Josef Koudelka: Fotograf, National Gallery, Prague
  • 2002/03 – Rétrospective, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico.

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    • Josef Koudelka, Pera Museum, İstanbul<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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    • Invaze = Invasion, Old Town Hall, Prague
  • 2010 – Invasion Prague 68, Photo Cube Market Square, Guernsey<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2013 – Vestiges 1991–2012, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseilles, France<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2013/2014 – Josef Koudelka Retrospective, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2014/2015 – Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Getty Center, Los Angeles;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Fundacion Mapfre, Madrid<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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  • 2018 – Josef Koudelka: Returning, Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2019 – Josef Koudelka: Exiles, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Collections

Koudelka's work is held in the following permanent collections:

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See also

References

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Interviews

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