Josef Koudelka: Diaries

by Josef Koudelka (Photographer), Tomáš Pospěch (Editor), Derek Paton (Translator)

A rare glimpse into the mind and artistic process of one of the world’s greatest photographers.

Distilled from sixty‑nine journals kept over the course of fifty‑plus years, Josef Koudelka: Diaries offers a look inside the mind and artistic process of the iconoclastic Czech photographer renowned for a life in exile and legendary projects on the Roma, the 1968 Soviet-led invasion in Prague, and the devastating impact humans have on the landscape. Facsimile pages from the diaries, along with images by the photographer, including self‑portraits, lend the volume an immediacy and authenticity. As curator Tomáš Pospěch writes, “Koudelka’s diaries are a ‘cookbook’ of classic photography. He associated with the most renowned photographers. His notes sum up his rich experience, including with the now‑vanishing technology of analog black‑and‑white photography. His remarks, quips, and stories reappear, just as he repeatedly made resolutions, affirmed the rules he had adopted, and recalled earlier events and dreams.”

Diaries is a perfect companion to Josef Koudelka: Next (2023), the visual biography by Melissa Harris.

Genres: Biography, Photography

472 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2021

About the author

Josef Koudelka was born in Czechoslovakia in 1938. He began his career as an aeronautical engineer, and started photographing gypsies in his spare time in 1962, before 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. Koudelka left Czechoslovakia seeking political asylum in 1970, and shortly thereafter he joined Magnum Photos.

In 1975 his first book, Gypsies, was published by Aperture, and subsequent titles include Exiles (1988), Chaos (1999), Invasion 68: Prague (2008), and Wall (2013) and, most recently Ruines (2020). Koudelka has won major awards, such as the Prix Nadar (1978), Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), Grand Prix Cartier-Bresson (1991), and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (1992).

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; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Art Institute of Chicago; and Museum of Decorative Arts and the National Gallery, Prague. In 2012, he was named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. He is currently based in Paris and Prague.

Reviews

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jedna z nejlepších knih, které jsem kdy četla. Historie fotografie spojená s tvůrčím přemýšlením jednoho fotografa.

[Dymbula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deníky jsou skvělé, deníky jsou zákeřné a navíc, když jsou vydané za života. Někdy s Koudelkovými názory nemůžu souhlasit, ale většinou ano. Největší souznění s Josefem Koudelkou byl rok 2006. Krásně udělaná kniha.Pro mě zcela zásadní myšlenka z Deníků: "Negativ je sbírka informací. Ne všechny jsou pro mě užitečné. Potlačováním některých a zdůrazňováním jiných vytahují z negativu to, co chci říct."

[Nikolaj Mokry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Líbilo by se mi, kdyby takový knihy četli i ti, o kterých se v nich píše ještě před vydáním, komentovali jim věnovaný pasáže a do tisku by to šlo až pak. Ale je to inspirativní, zajímavý čtení samo o sobě.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic stuff that I keep thinking about. Though I started out the book worshipping him, I'd feel strong resentment towards him by the end.

Still, very much worth the read, and you experience may very well be different.