Koudelka is a documentary photographer and has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1971. The Magnum group were instrumental in helping Koudelka leave Communist Czechoslovakia, where he had documented the atrocities of the Russian invasion of Prague Spring 1968. His photographs were sent outside of the country and had become iconic images in Western Europe.
Koudelka is a photograher of incredible energy. At the time of the Prague Spring images, he photographed everything he could, finding opportunities for photos everywhere he looked. In the one week of the Prague Spring saw Koudelka take over 5000 photos. Even though Koudelka’s works are primarily regarded as photojournalism- his images are political commentary and due to the high ability of technique they are considered art images. Koudelka mainly works in black and white. He is well known for capturing images of mass protest as well as lone figures in desolate environments. He captured the reality of place and time with an honesty that was unrivalled at the time. This is why his work is inherently political, because it shows life in it’s naked honesty. Technically, Koudelka mastered the use of the camera and was exceptional in his use of composition and detail.
Koudelka began taking photos for a theatre magazine, where he captured actors in rehearsals. These images were published anonymously and regarded as an act of resistance.
Koudelka is driven by a desire for freedom. This is what fuelled his desire to capture the truth in political events. His desire for truth and freedom also sent him on his many ‘wanderings’ where he documented life of the Roma people. It is his engagement with his subject and direct experience of ‘life’ that gives his work power. Exposing societal inequity and showing culture and ritual of the Roma through his photographs were Koudelka’s way of resisting the norm. His main subject matter before the Prague Spring were the gypsies in Czechoslovakia and he has since continued this series whilst travelling all over Europe. His most recent works are void of people and are explorations of desolate and often affected landscapes.
Koudelka is committed to presenting the life of the gypsies in many countries of Europe- the life of the underclass. Koudelka was clear in that he was not an editorial or advertising photographer. He also stated that he was not a war photographer, rather a photographer who captured what was happening in place and time. His images of gypsies could be said to be connected to his own nomadic existence.
Koudelka is a photograher of incredible energy. At the time of the Prague Spring images, he photographed everything he could, finding opportunities for photos everywhere he looked. In the one week of the Prague Spring saw Koudelka take over 5000 photos. Even though Koudelka’s works are primarily regarded as photojournalism- his images are political commentary and due to the high ability of technique they are considered art images. Koudelka mainly works in black and white. He is well known for capturing images of mass protest as well as lone figures in desolate environments. He captured the reality of place and time with an honesty that was unrivalled at the time. This is why his work is inherently political, because it shows life in it’s naked honesty. Technically, Koudelka mastered the use of the camera and was exceptional in his use of composition and detail.
Koudelka began taking photos for a theatre magazine, where he captured actors in rehearsals. These images were published anonymously and regarded as an act of resistance.
Koudelka is driven by a desire for freedom. This is what fuelled his desire to capture the truth in political events. His desire for truth and freedom also sent him on his many ‘wanderings’ where he documented life of the Roma people. It is his engagement with his subject and direct experience of ‘life’ that gives his work power. Exposing societal inequity and showing culture and ritual of the Roma through his photographs were Koudelka’s way of resisting the norm. His main subject matter before the Prague Spring were the gypsies in Czechoslovakia and he has since continued this series whilst travelling all over Europe. His most recent works are void of people and are explorations of desolate and often affected landscapes.
Koudelka is committed to presenting the life of the gypsies in many countries of Europe- the life of the underclass. Koudelka was clear in that he was not an editorial or advertising photographer. He also stated that he was not a war photographer, rather a photographer who captured what was happening in place and time. His images of gypsies could be said to be connected to his own nomadic existence.
Commentary
“The real art, though, lies in the photographs Koudelka produced when he began chronicling his restlessness - and rootlessness - as well as his newfound sense of freedom. His first major work, published in 1975, was called simply Gypsies, his second, from 1988, Exiles. Their titles alone tell you much about Koudelka's own life as well as the lives of his subjects.”
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/24/photography
ACTIVITY: Considering the above commentary, what is the connection between Koudelka and his subjects? What d you think he was trying to express?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/24/photography
ACTIVITY: Considering the above commentary, what is the connection between Koudelka and his subjects? What d you think he was trying to express?
Commentary
“Josef Koudelka, an aeronautical engineer who had recently taken up photography full-time, caught the invasion of Prague in a series of powerful images, including the one seen here. This photograph of an arm, with fist clenched and watch face up and center, is at once mundane and momentous; the simple act of marking the time serves to bear witness to the violent events of that summer. Koudelka aims the camera downward to fill the frame with the empty street, cutting off the open sky in the process. This compositional device, along with the wide, deserted boulevard leading to a square in the distance, effectively conveys a sense of tragedy, loss, and repression. “
Source: http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/48/index.html
Considering the above commentary-
ACTIVITY: Create an art vocabulary list by describing the ideas, style, symbols, inspiration and background of Josef Koudelka's practice.
ACTIVITY: With the above list you have created, present a VISUAL art vocabularly of the same words. Collect images that you connect to the word and document in your Visual Diary.
“For a week in August 1968, Koudelka’s proximity to events put him on the front line. His photographs were both photojournalistic documentation of a tumultuous conflict and emotionally charged testimony to the resistance put up by Prague’s overmatched citizens. Smuggled out of the country and published anonymously (so as not to put the artist at risk of reprisal by Soviet authorities), the images themselves might be seen as Koudelka’s own contribution to that collective act of resistance.”
Source: http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/48/index.html
“Originally, I did not want to make the book or the exhibition,' he says. 'I knew already I had selected the 10 best. And, to be truthful, when I was working on this book, I did not discover one that I would have added to these 10. They are the ones that have a universal value. In them it is not so important who is Russian and who is Czech. It is more important that one man has a gun and one man has not.'”
Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/24/photography
ACTIVITY: Describe the formal qualities one photographic image of your choice.
Source: http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/48/index.html
Considering the above commentary-
ACTIVITY: Create an art vocabulary list by describing the ideas, style, symbols, inspiration and background of Josef Koudelka's practice.
ACTIVITY: With the above list you have created, present a VISUAL art vocabularly of the same words. Collect images that you connect to the word and document in your Visual Diary.
“For a week in August 1968, Koudelka’s proximity to events put him on the front line. His photographs were both photojournalistic documentation of a tumultuous conflict and emotionally charged testimony to the resistance put up by Prague’s overmatched citizens. Smuggled out of the country and published anonymously (so as not to put the artist at risk of reprisal by Soviet authorities), the images themselves might be seen as Koudelka’s own contribution to that collective act of resistance.”
Source: http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/48/index.html
“Originally, I did not want to make the book or the exhibition,' he says. 'I knew already I had selected the 10 best. And, to be truthful, when I was working on this book, I did not discover one that I would have added to these 10. They are the ones that have a universal value. In them it is not so important who is Russian and who is Czech. It is more important that one man has a gun and one man has not.'”
Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/24/photography
ACTIVITY: Describe the formal qualities one photographic image of your choice.
Interview-Discussion about a retrospective show Josef Koudelka – Photographer, in Prague, Veletrzni Palac, 2003
http://old.radio.cz/ra/EN/03/01/EN030110-14.rm?:08.00&end=20:57.71
http://old.radio.cz/ra/EN/03/01/EN030110-14.rm?:08.00&end=20:57.71