Customer Reviews

Josef Koudelka

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To follow up on a comment by a previous poster, I will say that even if English is NOT your first language but you DO HAVE a good command of English, you will appreciate the toughtful 12-page essay by Anna Farova that introduces Koudelka's pictures, as well as the 24-page transcription of a conversation between Josef Koudelka and a fellow Czech journalist. Anna Farova's essay is particularly enlightening as it goes over the different stages that Koudelka went through as an artist particularly as they relate to the selection included in this booklet. The book also includes a comprehensive bibliography of Koudelka's work.

Koudelka is famous for how stubborn he is about showing new images, and this book isn't an exception as it is a review of the photographer's most-known bodies of work: Gypsies, Invasion 1968, Exiles, Chaos. Let assured however, the most if not all of Koudelka's iconic images are present, and the quality of the reproduction is very high (for example, some of the photos from Exiles have much better definition and contrast than their reproduction in my copy of the revised edition published by Delpire in '97). Also, you get a rare glimpse of the photographer's earlier work from the late 50's and of his theatre photography from the early 60's in Czechoslovakia.

Considering the high prices of other books by Koudelka, this book is a bargain, and if you're new to this photographer's work, it's a great place to start.

This is a small size book, yet it gives an overview of the different themes Koudelka worked on. It consists of work from his experience in the theater, from his Gypsies book, from the Prague 1968 events, as well as Exiles and Chaos. In addition, it has interesting writings and interviews with Koudelka. Not often do we here the great Koudelka speak out on how he came to being a photographer and his life in general, his search of a place in this world. Even if you already have his books this one is worth buying. If you are just discovering Koudelka's photography - this is a must to have. I am sure it will soon be a collectors item.

This is an excellent book for someone who is trying to get acquianted with the work of Koudelka. It's compact and has a basic introduction of Koudelka's work. Besides the photos I found extremely interesting the discussion with Koudelka at the end of the book. Extremely interesting and gives you a nice flavor of the philosophy and way of life of the man. That made me appreciate him even more.

Review of 5.5" x 5.5" paperback, hopefully there is a larger hardbound edition somewhere.

There is an excellent introduction by Anna Farova who had known the photographer for 40 years by the time of the writing and is a leading photography historian. The book also possesses an insightful discussion between Karel Hvizdala and the photographer although it isn't quite as captivating.

But the true light of this book are the images of Josef Koudelka, starting with the theatrical experiments up through the emotional environmental shots. I am glad that they chose the theatrical experimentations as they link all of the work together. Without these images I would have said leave the pure landscapes out as they just don't fit with Koudelka's images of people. It is the theatrical images that show that the landscapes are more about how the environment shapes what you are seeing, changing the subject matter into an emotional statement.

Throughout Koudelka's images you are on the outside looking in and you can never be on the inside looking out. You want to feel for the subject but you know you can not feel what the subject is feeling.

To me Koudelka surpasses Sudek as a poet in the manner of e.e. cummings being compared to Shakespeare. One may be a classic master but the other is redefining what is being mastered.

If English is your language, then this book has 2/3 of useless text for you as it includes other languages. The text in this book is surprisingly lean, take out the other languages and you would have a very thin book indeed. Further, the texts are quite a dull read, except for the interview (which is the most interesting part of this book aside from the photographs), the text reads like someones college report.

The image reproductions are well done, but be aware that there are not a lot of them....