Overview

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 newly revised and expanded edition of the 1988 classic, which includes ten new images and a new commentary with Robert Delpire, Koudelka's work once more forms a powerful document of the spiritual and physical state of exile. The sense of private mystery that fills these photographs--mostly taken during Koudelka's many years of wandering through Europe and Great Britain since leaving his native Czechoslovakia in 1968--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, while resonating with equal force in this current moment of profound migrations and transience.

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9781683951629

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Exiles is the deeply personal culmination of over two decades spent meandering in Europe. -The Photoblogapher His most distinctive work, and perhaps his most important. -L'Oeil de la Photographie

Author Information

In 1968, Josef Koudelka photographed the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, publishing these images under the initials P. P. (Prague Photographer). Koudelka left Czechoslovakia in 1970, became stateless, was then granted political asylum in England, and shortly thereafter joined Magnum Photos. Koudelka has published eleven books of photographs focusing on the relationship between contemporary man and the landscape, including Gypsies (1975), Exiles (1988), Black Triangle (1994), Invasion 68: Prague (2008), and Wall (2013). 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; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Koudelka is the recipient of the Medal of Merit awarded by the Czech Republic (2002) and numerous other awards. In 2012, he was named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. He is based in Paris and Prague. Czeslaw Milosz, poet, essayist, translator, and novelist, was born in 1911 in Lithuania. He moved to Warsaw in the late 1930s and during World War II worked as a writer and an editor for Resistance publications. After the war Milosz joined the Polish diplomatic service, before breaking with the government in 1951. In 1961 he became professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. He received numerous honors, including the Nobel Prize in 1981. His books include The Captive Mind, The Issa Valley, The Land of Ulro, The Seizure of Power, Native Realm, and The Separate Notebooks. He died in 2004. Stuart Alexander is international specialist in photographs at Christie's, New York. As an independent curator and scholar he has published widely and organized numerous exhibitions with major international publishers, collections, and museums. He is recognized as an authority on the work of Brassai, Robert Frank, and Josef Koudelka, and has contributed an essay to the catalog for Koudelka's retrospective exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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