Josef Koudelka, born in Moravia, made his first photographs while a student in the 1950s. About the same time that he started his career as an aeronautical engineer in 1961 he also began photographing Gypsies in Czechoslovakia and theater in Prague. He turned full-time to photography in 1967. The following year, Koudelka photographed the Soviet invasion of Prague, publishing his photographs under the initials P. P. (Prague Photographer) for fear of reprisal to him and his family. In 1969, he was anonymously awarded the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal for those photographs.
Koudelka left Czechoslovakia for political asylum in 1970 and shortly thereafter joined Magnum Photos. In 1975, he brought out his first book Gypsies, and in 1988, Exiles. 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 more than a dozen books of his work published, including most recently in 2006 the retrospective volume Koudelka.
He has won significant awards such as the Prix Nadar (1978), a Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), a Grand Prix Cartier-Bresson (1991), and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (1992). Significant 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 of Modern Art, Amsterdam; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
Education
1956/61 Degree in Engineering, The Technical University of Prague, Czechoslovakia
Awards
2004 Cornell Capa Infinity Award, International Center of Photography, USA 1992 Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation Photography Prize, Sweden 1991 Grand Prix Henri Cartier-Bresson, France 1987 Grand Prix National de la Photographie, French Ministry of Culture, France 1980 National Endowment for the Arts Council, USA 1978 Prix Nadar, France 1976 British Arts Council Grant to cover life in the British Isles, UK 1973 British Arts Council Grant to cover Gypsy life in Britain, UK 1972 British Arts Council Grant to cover Kendal and Southend, UK 1969 Robert Capa Gold Medal Award, National Press Photographers Association, USA 1967 Award by Union of Czechoslovakian Artists, Czechoslovakia
Exhibitions
2003 Teatro del Tempo - Mercati di Traiano, Roma, Italy 2002/03 Rétrospective - Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France; Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico 2002 Josef Koudelka : Fotograf - National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic 1999/01 Chaos - Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma, Italy; Cantieri Culturali della Zisa, Palermo, Italy; Palazzo Marino alla Scala, Milano Italy; The Snellman Hall, Helsinki, Finland; sala de exposiciones de Plaza de Espana, Madrid, Spain 1998 Reconnaissance: Wales - National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff, UK 1995/97 Periplanissis : following Ulysses' Gaze - Mylos, Thessaloniki, Greece; Zapeion, Athens, Greece; Centre culturel Una Volta, Bastia, France; ville de Rodez, France; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan; Museo di Storia della Fotografia, Fratelli Alinari, Firenze, Italy 1994 Cerny trojuhelnik - Podkrusnohori : Fotografie 1990 -1994 (Black Triangle) - Salmovsky Palac, Prague,Czech Republic 1990 Josef Koudelka z Fotografickécho Dila 1958-1990 - Umeleckoprumyslové, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1989 Josef Koudelka, Mission Transmanche - galerie de l'ancienne poste, Calais, France 1988/89 Josef Koudelka, Centre National de la Photographie, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; International Center of Photography, New York, USA; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; IVAM, Valencia, Spain 1984 Josef Koudelka - Hayward Gallery, London, UK 1977 Gitans: la fin du voyage, Galerie Delpire, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; The Tel-Aviv Museum, Israel; Victoria & Albert Museum 1975 Josef Koudelka - The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA 1968 Josef Koudela: Divaldeni fotografie – 1965-1968, Divadlo za branou, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1967 Josef Koudela: Cikáni – 1961-1966 - Divadlo za branou, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1961 Divadlo Semafor, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Books
2006 Koudelka, Delpire, France; Contrasto, Italy; Aperture, USA; Thames & Hudson, UK; Braus, Germany; Lunwerg, Spain; Fototorst, Czech Republic 2006 Koudelka: Camargue, Actes Sud, France 2004 L'épreuve totalitaire (essay by Jean-Pierre Montier), Delpire, France 2003 Théâtre du Temps, Actes Sud, France; (Teatro del Tempo), Peliti Associati, Italy; Apeiron, Greece 2001 Lime Stone, La Martinière, France 1999 Chaos, Nathan/Delpire, France; Phaidon Press, UK; Federico Motta Editore, Italy 1998 Reconnaissance Wales, Ffotogallery/ National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff, UK 1994 Cerný Trojuhelník - Podkrušnohorí : Fotografie 1990-1994 (The Black Triangle: The Foothills of the Ore Mountain) Vesmir, Czech Republic 1993 Josef Koudelka, Hasselblad Center, Sweden 1993 Josef Koudelka: Fotografie Divadlo za branou 1965-1970, Divadlo za Branou II, Czech Republic 1990 Prague 1968, Centre National de la Photographie, France 1990 Animal, Trois Cailloux/maison de la Culture d'Amiens, France 1989 Mission Photographique Transmanche, Editions de la Différence, France 1988/97 Exils, Centre National de la Photographie, France; Delpire éditeur, France (Exiles), Aperture, USA; Thames & Hudson, UK 1984 Photo Poche, Centre National de la Photographie, France 1982 Josef Koudelka: I Grandi Fotografi, Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri, Italy 1975 Gitans : la fin du voyage, Delpire, France; (Gypsies), Aperture, USA 1966 Kral Ubu: Rozbor inscenace Divadla Na Zabradli v Praze (with Alfred Jarry) Divadelni Ustav, Czechoslovakia 1965 Diskutujeme o moralce dneska, Nakladatelstvi Politické Literatury, Czechoslovakia
JOSEPH KOUDELKA, ...
Jan 9 2008, 14:48
Amateur 
Amateur+ 
