Josef KOUDELKA
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 2008 Invasion Prague 68.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1967 – Josef Koudela: Cikáni – 1961–1966, Divadlo za branou, Prague
1968 – Josef Koudela: Divadelni fotografie – 1965–1968, Divadlo za branou, Prague
1975 – Josef Koudelka, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1977 – Gitans: la fin du voyage, Galerie Delpire, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; The Tel-Aviv Museum, Israel; Victoria and Albert Museum, London
1984 – Josef Koudelka, Hayward Gallery, London
1989 – Josef Koudelka, Mission Transmanche, galerie de l'ancienne poste, Calais, 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
1998 – Reconnaissance: Wales, National Museum and Gallery of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom
2002 – Josef Koudelka: Fotograf, National Gallery, Prague
2002 – Rétrospective, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France; Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
2003 – Teatro del Tempo, Mercati di Traiano, Rome
2008 - Screening at Théâtre antique d'Orange, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France
2008 - Prague 1968, Aperture Gallery, New York, USA
2008 - Koudelka, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
2008 - Josef Koudelka, Pera Museum, İstanbul, Turkey
2008 - Invaze = Invasion, Old Town Hall, Prague
2010 – Invasion Prague 68, Photo Cube Market Square, Guernsey, United Kingdom
2012 – Zingari, Fondazione Forma, Milan, Italy
2013 – Vestiges 1991–2012, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseilles, France
2014 – Josef Koudelka Retrospective, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2015 – Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA; Getty Center, Los Angeles, USA
(selection)
Awards
1969 – Robert Capa Gold Medal Award, National Press Photographers Association, USA
1978 – Prix Nadar, France
1980 – National Endowment for the Arts Council, USA
1987 – Grand Prix National de la Photographie, French Ministry of Culture, France
1989 – Grand Prix National de la Photographie, France
1991 – Grand Prix Henri Cartier-Bresson, France
1992 – Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation Photography Prize, Sweden
1998 – The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography, United Kingdom
2004 – Cornell Capa Infinity Award, International Center of Photography, USA
2015 – Dr. Erich Salomon Award, Germany
