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Josef Koudelka

January 16 - April 13, 2008

In this retrospective exhibition, Josef Koudelka revealed a side of himself, which we rarely see as it is usually covered up by the striking aesthetical quality of his photographs. Over time this apparent globetrotter has shown himself to be an engaged photographer who is now world-renowned. His key issue is, internally, always related to his native land, whether as a conscious message or out of a subconscious need. In the work, the local dimension meets the universal.

The retrospective took stock of all the stages of Koudelka’s work and its main thematic areas. The exhibition opened with a set of rare original prints from the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were followed by two parallel topics from the 1960s – Koudelka’s key series ‘Gypsies’, a fascinating encounter with this special ethnic group, and, the other, his work for respected Czech theatres, consisting of photographs with intricate structures. In Prague, Koudelka met important figures in the arts, such as the theatre directors Otomar Krejca and Jan Grossman and the writer-dramatists Josef Topol and Václav Havel, who helped to maintain the continuity of Czech culture when it was under heavy ideological pressure from the totalitarian state.

An important part of Koudelka’s oeuvre was the ‘Invasion’ series shoot in Prague, in August 1968. Shortly afterwards, in 1970, he emigrated, and the resultant feelings of being uprooted found expression in photographs which formed a series entitled ‘Exiles’. The two series, ‘Invasion’ and ‘Exiles’, can be understood as a whole, that related to the Czech situation, its causes and effects. With increasing frequency and gravity his work came to include both politics (as concern for public affairs) and his own personal themes of searching and finding, all within the problematic reality of the contemporary world. Shortly after leaving his homeland he began to work with Magnum Photos, and, in 1974, became the only Czech full member of this international agency.

After returning to Czechoslovakia for the first time since his departure, Koudelka photographed the devastation of the natural environment in the Ore Mountains of Bohemia, from 1990 to 1994. The photographs exhibited and published as ‘The Black Triangle’, tie into the set made with a panoramic camera in northern France, an area that has also been greatly affected by human intervention. These photographs became part of Koudelka’s large project called ‘Chaos’, which this retrospective concluded with. In the devastated landscape of today, Koudelka has found “tragic untamed beauty”, the search for which may be understood as Koudelka’s lifelong topic.

Exhibition Catalogue

Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka

In this retrospective exhibition, Josef Koudelka revealed a side of himself, which we rarely see as it is usually covered up by the striking aesthetical quality of his photographs. Over time this...

Jean-Léon Gérôme: Cultural Interactions in the Age of Change

Jean-Léon Gérôme: Cultural Interactions in the Age of Change

Jean-Léon Gérôme is among the most renowned artists of the second half of the 19th century. One of the most fervent advocates of academic painting, Gérôme declared a personal war against modern movements such as Impressionism. 

Memory of Objects

Memory of Objects

In his book exploring the cultural history of souvenirs, Rolf Potts discusses how such objects assume meaning through personal stories: Objects turn into memories with the stories they hold.

Journey to the East

Journey to the East

Pera Museum presents an exhibition of French artist Félix Ziem, one of the most original landscape painters of the 19th century. This week we are sharing Ziem’s work inspired by Istanbul and “the East”!