Koudelka

Stark, impassioned and singularly intense, Josef Koudelka’s work has received deserved acclaim over the past three decades as a uniquely significant contribution to the language of photography.

‘Koudelka’ is the first book to present over 150 of his most eloquent images in a single volume, from his earliest images – published here for the first time – to his most recent panoramic landscape studies.

Whether photographing avant-garde theatre, gypsies throughout Eastern Europe, resistance to Soviet guns and tanks advancing on Prague, or the environmental degradation of a post-industrial world, Koudelka has consistently produced images that provoke a connection to the larger questions of human existence.

Robert Delpire, Koudelka’s longtime publisher, collaborated with the artist in conceiving and producing this title. The other essayists in ‘Koudelka’ each explore a different aspect of the artist’s work, illustrating his constant evolution and intensity.

Josef Koudelka began his career as an aeronautical engineer, turning full-time to photography in the late 1960s. In 1968, Koudelka photographed the Soviet invasion of Prague, publishing his photographs under the initials P. P. (Prague Photographer). In 1969, he was anonymously awarded the Overseas Press Club’s Robert Capa Gold Medal for the photographs. Significant exhibitions of his work have been held at The Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography, New York; Hayward Gallery, London; Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. In 1992, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. He is currently based in Paris.

Robert Delpire is creative director and publisher of Delpire Editeur as well as a gallerist and film producer. He has organized exhibitions of photography around the world, and he founded the Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, with Jack Lang, and was its director until 1996. In 2002, he established the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation