One of the most powerful documents of the spiritual and physical state of exile ever published

About Exiles, Cornell Capa once wrote, 'Koudelka's unsentimental, stark, brooding, intensely human imagery reflects his own spirit, the very essence of an exile who is at home wherever his wandering body finds haven in the night...'

In this revised and expanded edition of the 1988 classic, which includes new images, Josef Koudelka's work once more forms a powerful document of the spiritual and physical state of exile. Most of the images were taken in Europe during Koudelka's own twenty-year exile from his native Czechoslovakia, starting in 1970, after having left in the wake of photographing the Soviet-led invasion of Prague. The sense of private mystery that fills these photographs speaks of passion and reserve, of his rage to see. Solitary, moving, deeply felt and strangely disturbing, the images in Exiles suggest alienation, disconnection and love.

Exiles evokes some of the most compelling and troubling themes of the twentieth century, still resonating with equal force during this time of migrations and profound transience.

About the Author:

Josef Koudelka was born in Moravia in 1938. In 1968, he photographed the Soviet invasion of Prague, for which he was awarded the Overseas Press Club’s Robert Capa Gold Medal. He has published over a dozen books, including Exiles, Chaos and Invasion 68: Prague.

'A classic of documentary photography … an extraordinary testament to Koudelka's keen eye and darkly romantic imagination' Observer

Gypsies is based on the original maquette for Josef Koudelka’s book Cikáni (Czech for Gypsies), prepared by Koudelka and graphic designer Milan Kopriva in 1968, and intended for publication in Prague in 1970. However, Koudelka left Czechoslovakia in 1970, and the book was never published in that original form.

Now available in an affordable compact edition, the book has been revised and resequenced. Comprising 109 photographs taken between 1962 and 1971 in what was Czechoslovakia (Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia), Romania, Hungary, France and Spain, it is a unique record of a vanished world. The Gypsies in these images were photographed during the 1960s, mostly in a state that no longer exists, and ruled by a regime that disintegrated in 1989. Will Guy, author of the text that accompanied the first publication of Gypsies, contributes an entirely new essay tracing the migration of the Roma from their original homeland in northern India, to their current status – one that continues to be contested internationally.

About the Author:

Josef Koudelka was born in Moravia in 1938. In 1968, he photographed the Soviet invasion of Prague, for which he was awarded the Overseas Press Club’s Robert Capa Gold Medal. He has published over a dozen books, including Exiles, Chaos and Invasion 68: Prague.

This book is a revised and enlarged version of the original maquette for Josef Koudelka's book Cikani (Czech for Gypsies), prepared by Koudelka and graphic designer Milan Kopriva in 1968, and intended for publication in Prague in 1970. However, Koudelka left Czechoslovakia in 1970, and the book was never published in that original form. Koudelka's stark images depict the poverty and clannishness of Gypsy life, but he does not present their situation as a social problem that should somehow be fixed. Instead, he shows the Gypsies as perpetual outsiders, and their lives as a primal mix of glee and wonder, sorrow and mystery.

This extended version of the seminal 'Gitans, la fin du voyage' consists of 109 photographs taken between 1962 and 1971 in what was Czechoslovakia (Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia), Romania, Hungary, France and Spain. Sociologist Will Guy, author of the text that accompanied the first publication of Gypsies, has contributed an updated essay, tracing the migration of the Roma from their original homeland in northern India, to their current status one that continues to be contested internationally.

On August 21, 1968, theatre photographer and aeronautics engineer Josef Koudelka took pictures of the Prague invasion by Warsaw Pact tanks and smuggled them out of the country. Magnum circulated them credited to an “unknown photographer” in order to prevent reprisals, Koudelka won the Robert Capa Award anonymously. 40 years later, Koudelka reviewed his archive and presents 249 mostly unpublished pictures from the series in this volume.

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

This book brings together panoramic photographs from one of his most recent projects, the landscape of the Piedmont region of northern Italy. As Giuseppe Culicchia says in his introduction to this superb collection, ‘Today’s Piedmont is a region that is both wonderful and wounded. And here they are: the wonders and the wounds … Humans are largely absent from Koudelka’s images, because the book’s main protagonist is the land itself.’

• Includes an introduction outlining Piedmont’s history and culture by leading Italian journalist Giuseppe Culicchia.
• Koudelka’s powerful compositions lend themselves brilliantly to the panoramic format of the photographs and the book’s layout.

Josef Koudelka’s photographs of the 1968 invasion of Prague won him the Robert Capa Gold Medal in 1969. He left Czechoslovakia in 1969 and became a member of Magnum Photos. He has lived in Paris and Prague since 1980.

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.

About the Author:

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.

Before the beginning of his exile, Koudelka had already produced two works of great importance. One documented the Prague Spring, while the other, on gypsies, could almost have been an ethnological study had its images not been charged with so much emotion. Unknown in 1970, he has risen to become one of the most powerful photographers of the day. This book shows that in the lands of exile through which he travels with his amazing urge to see, Koudelka’s own particular talent has been affirmed and expanded.

PHOTOFILE brings together the best work of the world’s greatest photographers, in an attractive format and at an easily affordable price. Handsome and collectable, the books are produced to the highest standards. Each volume contains some sixty full-page reproductions printed in superb duotone, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography. The series has been awarded the first annual prize for distinguished photographic books by the International Center of Photography, New York.