Further Reading
Bennett, Terry.Korea: Caught in Time. U.K: Garnet, 1997.
Ch’oe, In-Jin.Han’guk Sajinsa: 1631–1945(A History of
Korean Photography). Seoul: Nunpit, 1999.
——. In-JinHan’guk Sinmun Sajinsa(A History of Korean
Newspaper Photography). Seoul: Yolhwadang, 1992.
Ch’oe, Chun.Han’guk Sinmunsa (A History of Korean
Newspaper). Seoul: Ilchogak, 1983.
Kim, Minsu, and Ch’oe Minji.Iljeha Minjok Unron Saron
(Korean Journalism of the Japanese Colonial Period)
Seoul: Ilwol sogak: 1978.
Stroebel, Leslie, Ed.The Focal Encyclopedia of Photogra-
phy. 2nd ed. Boston: Focal Press, 1993.JOSEF KOUDELKA
Czechoslovakian
A documentary and landscape photographer, Josef
Koudelka first came to international prominence as
the anonymous Czech photographer who chro-
nicled the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Koudelka, already earning a reputation as a photo-
grapher of Gypsies and theatrical life at the time of
the Russian military intervention, subsequently
became a political exile. As a wanderer who che-
rishes solitary independence, he has become a spe-
cialist in desolate photographs of outcasts like
himself. Much of his work depicts vanishing life-
styles and such sore points of contemporary life as
environmental destruction.
Koudelka was born in the tiny village of Bosko-
vice, in the province of Moravia in Czechoslovakia
in 1938. Introduced to photography as a teenager
by a friend of his father’s, Koudelka began photo-
graphing his family and surroundings with a 66-
inch Bakelite (plastic) camera. In 1961, he earned a
degree in aeronautical engineering from Technical
University in Prague and also acquired an old Roll-
eiflex. Koudelka then embarked on a career as an
engineer in Prague and Bratislava at the same time
that he began developing his photographic career.
Koudelka credits the Czech photographer and
critic Jiri Jenı ́cek with encouraging him to put
together his first exhibition, in 1961. At this show,
Koudelka encountered Czech photography critic
and curator Anna Fa ́rova, who became a friend
and collaborator. While completing his military
service in Bratislava, Koudelka met the Roma
poet Desider Banga and began photographing the
Roma people using one of the first wide angle lenses
that came to Czechoslovakia. This East German
lens with a focal length of 25 mm enabled Koudelka
to work in small spaces and achieve a full depth of
field even with bad light. In the 1960s, the Roma
were undergoing forced attempts to assimilate them
within the Czech state. Although Koudelka found
taking these photographs to be difficult, he found
inspiration in the music played in their settlements
and in the support of the Roma themselves.
By chance, Koudelka also became involved with
Czech theater. He began to take freelance photo-
graphs of performances for the magazineDivadlo
(Theater) in 1961. The first performance that he
photographed was Bertold Brecht’sMother Cour-
ageand he continued to work forDivadlountil
leaving Czechoslovakia. He later explained why
he stopped doing theatrical work:
By [photographing theater] the same way I photograph
real life, I learned to see the world as theater. To photo-
graph the theater of the world interests me more....With
the gypsies, it was theater, too. The difference was that
the play had not been written and there was no direc-
tor—there were only actors....It was the theater of life....
All I had to know was how to react.
(Koudelka 2002, 122)
In 1968, Alexander Dubcek, the new leader of
Czechoslovakia, initiated a reform program to cre-
ate ‘‘Communism with a human face.’’ The result-
ing freedom of speech and press, freedom to travel
abroad, and relaxation of secret police activities led
to a period of euphoria known as the Prague
Spring. Encouraged by Dubcek’s actions, many
Czechs called for far-reaching reforms including
neutrality and withdrawal from the Soviet bloc.
To forestall the spread of reforms, the Soviet army
invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Koudelka
recorded this invasion. His pictures were smuggled
out of the country with the help of Farova andKOREA, PHOTOGRAPHY IN