Gypsies

Gypsies by Josef Koudelka. First edition first impression in fine condition. No internal markings, pages clean, binding firm, the book is as new and unread. There are some faint scuff marks to rear of jacket. Now in a removable protective sleeve. Please see pictures. PayPal accepted, any questions please get in touch.

About Gypsies

Gypsies, lavishly printed in a unique quadratone mix by Gerhard Steidl, rekindles the energy of this foundational body of work by master photographer Josef Koudelka. This stunning new edition offers an expanded look at Koudelka’s series Cik´ni (Czech for Gypsies)—109 photographs of Roma society taken between 1962 and 1971 in then-Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, France, and Spain. The volume’s design is based on a maquette originally prepared in 1968 by Koudelka and graphic designer Milan Kopriva. Koudelka intended to publish the work in Prague, but was forced to flee Czechoslovakia, landing eventually in Paris. In 1975, Robert Delpire, Aperture, and Koudelka collaborated to publish Gitans, la fin du voyage (Gypsies, in the English-language edition), a selection of sixty photographs, half never before published, taken in various Roma settlements around East Slovakia. Roma scholar and sociologist Will Guy, who also wrote the essay for the 1975 edition, contributes a new, in-depth analysis of the condition of the Roma today, including the most recent upheavals in France and Europe.

About Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka (b. 1938) is a Czech-born French itinerant photographer. Firstly, he is known for his seminal photo-books about the gypsies in Eastern Europe, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. As well as the Black Triangle, a region of environmental devastation. Consequently, the black and white images in these photo-books represent key moments in human history. Henceforth they afford us the opportunity to learn from the experiences of alienation, conflict, despair, waste, loss, and departure. Furthermore, he uses photography to distill and visualize human values that have shaped our current human condition.

Related Links

More books by Josef Koudelka here.

More books by Thames & Hudson here.