Until the end of the month of January, the Photo Elysée (a museum dedicated to photography in Lausanne), present the work of Josef Koudelka, an artist born in 1938.
In this retrospective encompassing 60 years of work, the curator Lars Willumeit and the artist decided to create four focus rooms, dedicated to a series of work or a particular theme such as his earlier work, his bookmaking, etc.
Ikonar
The titled of the exhibition “Josef Koudelka Ikonar. Archival constellations” is a story in itself. During most of his life, Josef Koudelka was interested in representing lesser knows citizen such as Jews and Roma. One day, while he was shooting a series of photographs with a group of Roma, they gave him the name of "maker of icons" or Ikonar.
The photographs he made were so complex, in their composition, their color, the light and their construction that it can be defined as quasi-religious icons.
2. Josef Koudelka, Invasion. Prague, 1968 © Josef Koudelka_Magnum Photos, courtesy of the Josef Koudelka Foundation
The four sections of the exhibition are an invitation to discover the works of this humanist photographer. Thus, the first room is dedicated to his research, his archive, his process and his earliest work.
In his work, the archival process is deeply important. Beside shooting so many photographs in his life, maybe 30 000 to 40 000, Josef Koudelka and the foundation he created are currently organising all of his files in Prague.
In a sense, his archive showcase what we know from Koudelka, his black and white photographs of the Roma, or well-known series of work. But it also showcase the process, the process of choosing the best picture after he shoots them, the process of organising them, printing them, sending it to Magnum or to galleries.
But in this case, the Photo Elysée team and more precisely the curator, Lars Willumeit had the chance to look thought the contact sheet.
Thought his archival practice, Koudelka developed his own colour chart. A white frame around the picture means that the picture is interesting, but not exceptional. A yellow frame state that the photo is good, that it needs to be printed and that it can be send to Magnum. On another hand, a red frame refers to the need of a second edit. And the final picture is marked with a blue frame, and this work can be put into the "Koudelka catalogue".
Most of the works he made were produced during his travels, showcasing a sort of biography thought his film. But not a biography of himself, a biography of the people he shoots, a biography of the group of people such as the jews, the Roma or the religious. He also showcases himself travelling, but not with a selfie or a portrait, but with his feet, his hands, his watch or his body, or via his shadow.
These shadows are kind of a self-portrait. They are genderless, they are the representation of his daily life and activities...
3. Josef Koudelka, Velká and Veličkou, Tchécoslovaquie, 1967 © Josef Koudelka_Magnum Photos, courtesy of the Josef Koudelka Foundation
The rest of the rooms are a selection of all of his series dating from the 60s to the most recent picture.
Between 1958 and 1964, Koudelka is starting photography. At the time, his beginning is quite experimental, he try out many cameras and lenses, he try out many subject and composition. Just after three years of practice, he already had his first exhibition at the Semafor Theater in Prague in 1961.
During the vernissage of this exhibition, Koudelka meet two of the most important person of his life: Jiri Jenicek, an early supporter of his oeuvre and Anna Farova, an art historian and curator. The two will form a duo and supporter of Koudelka photographs while he is still a 23-year-old engineering student.
At the time, he already had his style, his sharp composition, his reduced forms, his high contrast at the limit of abstraction and the Bauhaus photographer such as László Moholy-Nagy.
After this exhibition, the artist was asked to collaborate with the avant-garde theatres "Divadio Na Zábradlí" to shoot the rehearsal and the presentation of the theater. In a sense, he was more attracted to the work in progress, the life beyond the presentation to the public then the final product.
But his theater photographs are not documentaries, they are more then a description of a scene, he retains is creativity and his freedom because he doesn't want to have any rules linked to his contract.
After observing the life of the theater, he decided to move on to his Gypsies project from 1962 and 1970. This series will be his first coherent series, and one of his most recognisable pictures.
He photographs the Gypsies in their setting, in their house and their context, ad being recognise as a true citizen/part of the community. For him, those photographs are not part of a documentary project, but a representation of the reality, of the life of the people which are part of this country.
Furthermore, he showcased the invasion of this country in 1968 and his exiles made between 1968 and 1994.
In 1975, Koudelka had an impressive show to the Museum of Modern Art in New-York due to this series.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Photo Elysée
Date: 5.11.2022 – 29.1.2023
Curators: Lars Willumeit
Ticket: Available at the front desk of the museum
Informations about Photo Elysée
Photo Elysée
Place de la Gare 17
CH-1003 Lausanne
Suisse
Phone: +41 21 318 44 00