Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Klenovec
- Artist: Josef Koudelka
- Date: 1967
- Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 539 × 352 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Klenovec” by Josef Koudelka. It comes from his first photography series, Gypsies, shot in 1967. The picture captures a moment in the daily life of a Roma family living in the small village of Klenovec in what was then Czechoslovakia. Koudelka, who was called “Ikonar” – maker of icons – used a 25‑mm wide‑angle lens to slip into the tight spaces of their home. The result is an intimate, almost iconographic composition that shows the resilience of a people who were being pushed into forced integration and persecution across post‑war Europe. The image is a gelatin‑silver print on paper, a classic black‑and‑white medium that gives it a timeless, documentary feel. The photograph invites you to pause and consider the quiet strength that lives within these everyday scenes.
See it in person
Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Klenovec is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
