Gypsies

Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka is known for his black-and-white photographs of social and political turmoil in his native Czechoslovakia and abroad. Among his many accolades, Koudelka has received the Prix Nadar, the Grand Prix Cartier-Bresson, and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. In 1969 he was awarded the Overseas Press Club’s Robert Capa Gold Medal for his photographs of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Prague, which he published under the pseudonym P.P. (Prague Photographer) for fear of retaliation against him and his family. Koudelka sought political asylum in England in 1970 and joined Magnum Photos; he later moved to France, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1987. He has published over a dozen photo books, including Gypsies (1975) and Exiles (1988). Since the late 1980s, he has used a panoramic camera to produce expansive photos of regions impacted by industry and geopolitical conflict.