Exiles and Panoramas 1968–2012

Wetzlar’s Ernst Leitz Museum dedicates an exhibition to the iconic Czech photographer Josef Koudelka. Open from March 6 to August 23, 2020.

Josef Koudelka (born 1938 in Boskovice, Czech Republic) gained international attention with his documentation of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Against all odds, he managed to smuggle his negatives out of the country – enabling Magnum Photos to distribute his work under the pseudonym ‘P.P.’ (Prague Photographer).

Today Koudelka counts among the most influential representatives of photojournalism. His images, whose style echoes the aesthetics of graphic illustrations, often bear undertones of surrealist humour. The photographer’s work has been exhibited in leading institutions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography in New York, the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Comprised of a selection of 68 prints, the exhibition ‘Exiles and Panoramas 1968–2012’ offers illuminating insights into the photographer’s extraordinary oeuvre.

For further information visit Ernst Leitz Museum