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    Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful

    November 11, 2014–March 22, 2015

    Getty Center

    Prague, 1968, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Prague, 1968, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of and © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Prague, negative, 1968; print, 1990, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Prague, negative, 1968; print, 1990, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of and © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Bohemia, negative, 1966; print, 1967, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Bohemia, negative, 1966; print, 1967, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, gift of the artist, 2013.1256. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Czechoslovakia, negative, 1968; print, 1987-88, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Czechoslovakia, negative, 1968; print, 1987-88, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of Josef Koudelka and Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Ireland, negative, 1972; print, 1987-88, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Ireland, negative, 1972; print, 1987-88, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of Josef Koudelka and Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • France, negative, 1987; print, 1987-88, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    France, negative, 1987; print, 1987-88, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of Josef Koudelka and Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Moravia, negative, 1966; print, 1967, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Moravia, negative, 1966; print, 1967, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, gift of the artist, 2013.1255. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Slovakia, negative, 1963; print, 1967, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Slovakia, negative, 1963; print, 1967, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, Amanda Taub Veazie Endowment and Photography Gala Fund, 2013.1223. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Romania, negative, 1968; print, 1980s, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Romania, negative, 1968; print, 1980s, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, promised gift of Robin and Sandy Stuart. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • <i>Josef Topol’s Hour of Love, Divadlo za branou, Prague</i>, 1968, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Josef Topol’s Hour of Love, Divadlo za branou, Prague, 1968, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of and © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Prague, 1968, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print.

    Prague, 1968, Josef Koudelka, gelatin silver print. Image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, promised gift of a private collector. © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

  • Jordan, negative, 2012; print, 2013, Josef Koudelka, inkjet print.

    Jordan, negative, 2012; print, 2013, Josef Koudelka, inkjet print. Image courtesy of and © Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful

November 11, 2014–March 22, 2015, Getty Center

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An aeronautical engineer by training, Josef Koudelka (Czech, naturalized French, born 1938) became intensely committed to photography by the mid-1960s and quickly emerged as one of the most influential, iconoclastic photographers of his generation. This exhibition—the first U.S. retrospective devoted to Koudelka since 1988—traces his legendary career with more than 140 works produced over five decades. It marks the first time that the work of one contemporary photographer will fill the Center for Photographs at the Getty.

This exhibition was co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago in association with Fundación MAPFRE.

After early experiments with photography, Josef Koudelka began his career in the 1960s by working for leading Czech theater companies. He photographed theatrical productions, working quickly and closely alongside the actors onstage as they rehearsed. During this decade he also spent long periods in Roma (Gypsy) encampments in Slovakia and the Czech lands of Moravia and Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), creating thousands of pictures. He compiled a selection of these captivating photographs in his seminal publication Gypsies (1975), revised edition 2013. This retrospective presents exhibition and book prints from this series, as well as materials used to create the book.


In 1968, Koudelka risked his life to document the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, clambering onto tanks and mixing with protesters and soldiers. His negatives of the event were smuggled into the West, and the images were reproduced worldwide, ultimately forcing his exile in 1970. Unable to produce documentation that verified his birthplace as Czechoslovakia, Koudelka acquired the legal status of "Nationality Doubtful" while stateless in Western Europe. Undeterred by this, he worked continuously while in exile, traveling in the spring and summer months to photograph Roma gatherings and folk and religious festivals in Western Europe. In the harsh winter months he retreated to the darkroom. Work from this period, first published in the book Exiles (1988), is a cornerstone of the exhibition.


By the time he completed Exiles, Koudelka had already settled in Paris and begun working primarily with panoramic cameras to photograph the landscape and man's impact on it. Since 1986, he has utilized the expansive panoramic format to showcase terrains that have been mined, stripped, exploited, scarred by industry, altered by time, and devastated by conflict. The exhibition will feature a selection of large-scale panoramic works, including images from Koudelka's most recent project Wall on the West bank barrier and the land that surrounds it on both sides.

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All events are free, unless otherwise noted. Seating reservations are required. For reservations and information, please call (310) 440-7300 or see information on planning a visit.

Lecture

Josef Koudelka in Conversation

Josef Koudelka discusses his work and career with photographer Tod Papageorge, who directed the graduate photography department at the Yale University School of Art from 1979 until 2013.

Wednesday, November 12, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Symposium

New Walled Order: The Aesthetics and Politics of Barriers

Inspired by various bodies of work by Josef Koudelka, this daylong symposium explores political walls, past and present, and how artists and activists have responded to them. Panels consider the Berlin Wall, the Palestine Separation Barrier, and the U.S.-Mexico border fence. Presentations by artists and scholars cast new light on these monolithic barriers.

Saturday, November 15, 9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Film

Film Series: Czech Film and the Prague Spring

The Czech New Wave of the mid-1960s encompassed a variety of revolutionary styles that influenced directors around the world. Born of dissent against the Communist regime, the films often sublimate their critiques in absurdity, humor, and pathos. These filmmakers thrived in the momentary creative liberation of the Prague Spring, however each of the films in this series were banned by the Soviet-controlled government in Prague.

Saturday, December 6, 4:00 p.m.: The Ear (1970, 94 min.)
Saturday, December 6, 7:00 p.m.: Oratorio for Prague (1968, 26 min.) and A Report on the Party and Its Guests (1966, 70 min.)
Sunday, December 7, 2:00 p.m.: The Joke (1969, 81 min.)
Sunday, December 7, 4:00 p.m.: Daisies (1966, 76 min.)
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Related Events Continued

Performance

Sounds of L.A.: Yuri Yunakov and the Yunakov Ensemble

The hallmark of Bulgarian wedding music is virtuosic technique, dynamic key changes, and eclectic musical influences. Turkish-Bulgarian Roma saxophonist, Yuri Yunakov, is one of the genre’s pioneers, a NEA National Heritage Fellow, and a tireless champion of this music and the extraordinary culture from which it comes. Simply put, Yunakov’s concerts are untethered celebrations of what makes life worth living.

Saturday, February 7, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 8, 3:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Talk

Curator's Gallery Talks

Amanda Maddox, assistant curator of photographs, the J. Paul Getty Museum, leads a gallery talk on the exhibition. Meet under the stairs in the Museum Entrance Hall.

Tuesday, December 16, 2:30 p.m.
Thursday, February 12, 2:30 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum galleries

Publication

Publications are available in the Getty Museum Store by calling (310) 440-7333, or online at shop.getty.edu

http://shop.getty.edu/products/josef-koudelka-nationality-doubtful

Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful
Matthew S. Witkovsky, Amanda Maddox, Stuart Alexander, Gilles A. Tiberghien

A Conversation with Koudelka

Koudelka in Getty exhibition

The Czech-born photographer talks about freedom, landscape, empathy—and why good photographs are so rare—in this interview.

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