ABSTRACT
Josef Koudelka is a renowned, even revered, gure within the world of ne art photography, though his own taciturnity and refusal to be pinned down by close association with any one movement, or to oer an interpretation of his work, has made him dicult to critically place. His work, like that of many photographers who are not explicitly ‘architectural’ or do not belong to the ‘topographical’ school exemplied by the Bechers and Andreas Gursky, has made even less of an impact on discourse on the photography of architecture. The world he photographs is far removed from that of the glossy new buildings portrayed in commercial architectural photography, but is nonetheless rich with architectural qualities: in its play with scale, abstraction and volume; in its stark forms and deeply contrasting realms of light and shade; in its subversion of familiar spatial and pictorial forms; and in its sense of place and materiality. There is an intense materiality in these subjects: render crumbling away to reveal rough stonework, traces of rain staining, irregular paving, patched-up asphalt, brick, worn timber, old ironwork, tangled wire. Frequently the materials are sharp, ragged, rough or damp; hostile to the naked hand.
