Guerrillero Heroico

On 4 March 1960, the French freighter La Coubre exploded in Havana Harbor, killing up to 100 people and injuring several hundred more. Upon hearing the blast, Guevara rushed to the harbor to board the burning ship, angrily forcing his way past those concerned for his safety following a secondary explosion. Castro gave a fiery speech, using the words "Patria o Muerte" ("Homeland or Death") for the first time. Later, Korda said of this photograph, "I remember it as if it were today … seeing him framed in the viewfinder, with that expression. I am still startled by the impact … it shakes me so powerfully". The first photograph had Guevara framed alone between the silhouette of Jorge Masetti and a palm tree; the second with someone's head appearing above his shoulder. The first picture, with the intruding material cropped out and the image rotated slightly, became Guevara's most famous portrait. The editor of Revolución where Korda worked, decided to use only his shots of Castro, Sartre, and de Beauvoir, while sending the Che shot back to Korda. Believing the image was powerful, Korda made a cropped version for himself, which he enlarged and hung on his wall next to a portrait of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and also gave copies to some others as a gift. It was not until 1986 that José Figueroa, an established photographer in his own right who printed for Korda and was his unofficially "adopted" son, suggested they try printing the full frame version of the portrait. Korda continued to print both versions of the image up until his death. , similar to the one the photograph was taken on To take the photograph, Korda used a Leica M2 with a 90 mm lens, loaded with Kodak Plus-X pan film. In speaking about the method, Korda remarked that "this photograph is not the product of knowledge or technique. It was really coincidence, pure luck." == Alberto Korda ==

As a lifelong communist and supporter of the Cuban Revolution until his death, Alberto Korda claimed no payment for his picture. A modified version of the portrait through the decades was also reproduced on a range of different media, though Korda never asked for royalties. Korda reasoned that Che's image represented his revolutionary ideals, and thus the more his picture spread the greater the chance Che's ideals would spread as well. Korda's refusal to seek royalties for the vast circulation of his photograph "helped it become the ultimate symbol of Marxist revolution and anti-imperialist struggle." However, Korda did not want commercialization of the image in relation to products he believed Guevara would not support, especially alcohol. This belief was displayed for the first time in 2000, when in response to Smirnoff using Che's picture in a vodka commercial, Korda claimed his moral rights (a form of copyright law) and sued advertising agency Lowe Lintas and Rex Features, the company that supplied the photograph. Lintas and Rex claimed that the image was in the public domain. The final result was an out-of-court settlement for US$50,000, which Korda donated to the Cuban healthcare system, saying, "If Che was still alive, he would have done the same." After the settlement, Korda reiterated that he was not against its propagation altogether, telling reporters: == Use in Cuba ==

Cuban historian Edmundo Desnoes has stated that "Che's image may be cast aside, bought and sold and deified, but it will form a part of the universal system of the revolutionary struggle, and can recover its original meaning at any moment." That meaning's origin harkens back to when Korda's photograph was first published on 16 April 1961, in the daily Cuban newspaper Revolución, advertising a noon conference during which the main speaker was "Dr. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara". The conference was disrupted when 1,300 CIA-supported counter-revolutionaries stormed the beaches of Cuba, in what became known as the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. The image was thus republished a second time advertising the newly convened conference on April 28, 1961. Che, who died six years later, could have seen the photograph that would contribute to his iconic status. The first time Cubans on a large scale became familiar with the photograph, despite its earlier reproduction in Revolución, was upon Che's death in 1967. Upon the news of Che's execution, it was enlarged and draped on a banner down the five-story building of the Ministry of the Interior in the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana. This building where Che himself had formerly worked served as a backdrop to Fidel's eulogy on October 18, 1967, publicly acknowledging the death of Che Guevara before a crowd of more than a million mourners. José Gómez Fresquet, renowned Cuban poster maker and graphic artist, recalls how on hearing the news of Guevara's death, he immediately worked all night producing the poster to be used at the rally honoring him the next day. Korda had given Fresquet a copy of the portrait as a basis for the poster, which he created on red paper. This was the first privately produced Guerrillero Heroico created in Cuba. Since then the building has seen many versions of the image, and today a permanent steel outline, derived from the photograph, adorns the building. == International dissemination ==

Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Passed out to the occasional friend and published in a few small Cuban publications, Che's image remained relatively unknown for 7 years. A print was sold or given to wealthy Italian publisher and intellectual Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in 1967. Feltrinelli had just returned from Bolivia where he had hoped his fame would help in negotiating the release of French journalist and professor Régis Debray. Debray had been arrested in Bolivia in connection with guerrilla operations led by Che Guevara. As Guevara's eventual capture or death appeared to be imminent with the CIA closing in on his whereabouts, Feltrinelli acquired the rights to publish Che's captured Bolivian Diary. At this time Feltrinelli asked Cuban officials where to obtain Guevara images and was directed to Korda's studio where he presented a letter of introduction from the government. The document asked for Korda's assistance in finding a good portrait of Che. Korda knew right away that his favorite image of Che was perfect and pointed to the 1960 shot of Che hanging on the wall, saying that the photograph was the best of those he had taken of Che. Feltrinelli agreed and ordered 2 prints. When he returned the next day to pick them up Korda told him that because he was a friend of the revolution he did not have to pay. Upon his return to Italy, Feltrinelli disseminated thousands of copies of the poster to raise awareness of Che's precarious situation and impending demise. Later in 1967 after his 9 October 1967 execution, Che's Bolivian Diary with Korda's photograph on the cover was released worldwide. Feltrinelli also created posters to promote the book, crediting the copyright to © Libreria Feltrinelli 1967 (in the lower left hand corner of the image) with no mention of Korda. Paris Match Guerrillero Heroico also appeared in the August 1967 issue of Paris Match. Published only a few months before his eventual capture and execution, the issue featured a major article titled "Les Guerrilleros" by journalist Jean Lartéguy. Lartéguy wrote At a time when Cuban revolutionaries want to create Vietnams all over the world, the Americans run the risk of finding their own Algeria in Latin America. The article ended by asking "Where is Che Guevara?" The caption of the photograph read "The official photograph of Che Guevara; on his beret the star, the symbol of the Comandante." Because of Fitzpatrick's desire for the photograph to reflect something of himself, he raised Che's eyes more and added his initial, an "F", on the shoulder. It was not until the 40th anniversary of Che's death that Fitzpatrick admitted to this fact stating "I'm a bit mischievous, so I never told anyone." At this time Fitzpatrick said that "I love the picture and wherever I am in the world, if I see it, I take a photo of it. I always have a chuckle when I see that little 'F'. I know that it's mine." Ireland Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is interviewed in the 2008 documentary Chevolution about the famous photograph. As he speaks, the film shows a montage of Che murals in Belfast, with Adams remarking "I suppose people from my background were drawn to that image, because of what Che Guevara represented." To mark the 50th anniversary of Guevara's death the Irish postal service An Post issued a €1 stamp featuring Fitzpatrick's stylised version of the image. The initial print run of 122,000 sold out within days with An Post saying they experienced "unprecedented demand". The United States and further influence Guerrillero Heroico made its American debut in 1968 on New York City Subway billboards, when the image appeared in painted form by Paul Davis, for a poster advertising the February issue of Evergreen Review. Paul Davis has stated that he was "inspired by Italian paintings of martyred saints and Christ", in his romanticised version of Che. Time magazine, in an August 8, 1960, cover story after meeting with Guevara displayed this view, by remarking that Che wore "a smile of melancholy sweetness that many women find devastating". Argentine journalist Julia Costenlos, recalls that in her view he was "blessed with a unique appeal, an incalculable enchantment that came completely naturally". Even under duress, The Times journalist Henry Brandon, who spoke with Guevara at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, remarked that Che possessed a "genial charm" that "might have made Charles Boyer envious". In judging the enduring appeal of the image, Darrel Couturier, representative for Korda since 1997, has opined that it was "the image of a very dashing young man" and that in the "age of free love and flower power ... the time was ripe for a figure" or "image that could represent this great diversity in thinking and behavior the world over". According to Couturier, this "age of religious revolution", matched with Guevara's premature death, "elevated him to almost martyrdom". == In art and culture ==

As pop artists took to the image with glee, it evolved into a popular and heavily commercialized icon that often strayed far from Che's hard-line Marxist message. When converted into a stark black cut-out, Korda's photograph became easy, cheap, and fast to copy using the favored material and method of the 1960s: lith film and screen painting. By the time of his death in 1967, Che was already "a legend, the romantic epitome of worldwide rebellion" and in the wake of his perceived martyrdom, Korda's photograph went viral. Rebellious young people found in it a "sense of empowerment, a crystallization of the perennial idealism of youth". Journalist Richard Gott has also remarked that "the red star in Che's beret was up there with 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'." Exhibits , Cuba. • 1968, the Arts Laboratory in London held an exhibition on the photograph entitled "Viva Che". • 1998, the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles, California, featured an exhibition compiled by David Kunzle titled "Che Guevara: Icon, Myth and Message". • 2003, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Rethymnon, Greece, presented an exhibit titled "Che Guevara's Death". • 2004, the Centro Nacional de la Música, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, held an exhibition titled "Che Guevara by the photographers of the Cuban Revolution". • 2005, the International Center of Photography in New York City held an exhibition titled "¡Che! Revolution and Commerce". • 2006, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London hosted an exhibition titled "Che Guevara: Revolutionary and Icon". • 2007, the La Triennale in Milan, Italy, featured an exhibition titled "Che Guevara Rebel and Icon: The Legacy of Korda's Portrait". • 2007, the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam held a special exhibition about the photograph titled "Che! A Commercial Revolution". • 2007, the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, presented an exhibition featuring the photograph. • 2008, the WestLicht Gallery in Vienna, Austria, offered an exhibition on Guerrillero Heróico in relation to the "development of a mythos". • 2008, the Fototeca center in Havana, Cuba, held an exhibition titled "Korda, Known. Unknown." • 2008, the Santralistanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, hosted the exhibit "Narrative of a Portrait: Korda's Che from Revolution to Icon". • 2009, the Dom Nashchokina Gallery in Moscow, hosted the exhibition "Che: Hasta Siempre! Meet You in the Eternity" from June 18 to September 20, 2009. • 2010, the International Center of Photography in New York City, hosted the exhibition "Cuba in Revolution" from November 11 to January 9, 2011 – which featured several versions of the image. Posters and covers poster advertising the 1969 Tricontinental Conference. • In 1967 Polish artist Roman Cieslewicz designed a poster with the words "Che Si" (translation: 'Yes Che') emblazoned over his face as eyes and nose. This was later featured on the October 1967 cover of the French art magazine Opus International. • In 1968, Elena Serrano produced a widely distributed poster titled "Day of the Heroic Guerrilla", which shows telescoping images of Korda's photograph expanding to cover the entire red map of South America. • The 1968 February issue of Evergreen Review, featured Che's image in a painted form by Paul Davis. • The September 1969 issue of Tricontinental Magazine featured a conjoined image of Korda's Che with Ho Chi Minh. • During a 1969 student strike at Berkeley, a poster was produced and distributed with a cartoon bubble coming from Che's mouth possessing the words: "Shut it down!" • In 1970, the Art Workers' Coalition produced a widely distributed anti-Vietnam War poster featuring an outline of Che on a yellow background, with his famous quotation: "Let me say at the risk of appearing ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." • The Rage Against the Machine artwork for their 1993 single, "Bombtrack" features a mirrored version of the iconic two-tone portrait by Jim Fitzpatrick. • The September 16, 1996 edition of Der Spiegel magazine titled: "The Myth of Che Guevara", featured Che's image adorned with a halo of moving bullets. • A computerized rendition of Guerrillero Heroico appeared on the cover of the March 1–7, 2006 issue of Metro, above the title "The Blog Revolution". • In 2003, Madonna's album American Life featured the singer redoing Guerrillero Heroico. • The December 2008 issue of Rolling Stone Argentina features Guerrillero Heroico on the cover. == Commodity ==

gift shop in Havana, Cuba. The Che image has been cited as an example of the merging of politics and marketing and the power that images hold over society. Alberto Korda's photograph has received wide distribution and modification, appearing on countless numbers of T-shirts, posters, consumer products, protest banners, personal tattoos, and in many other formats. It has morphed into an iconic countercultural symbol for a new generation of youth. The image is now worn on the chests of a diverse group of individuals, from those who truly support the ideals that Che Guevara lived for, to those expressing a more generalized anti-authoritarian stance. == Iconography ==

Journalist Michael Casey, in his 2009 book ''Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image'', notes how the universal image can be found "in all corners of the world" and theorizes that it arrived as a symbol of rebellion during an era when the world was aching for change. , India, announcing the district conference for the Students Federation of India. Trisha Ziff, the curator of Che! Revolution and Commerce describes Guerrillero Heroico as a "statuesque image taken from below", which "derives from a visual language of mythologized heroes harking back to an era of socialist realism" while referencing "a classical Christ-like demeanor". Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, in the photograph Che appears "as the ultimate revolutionary icon" with "his eyes staring boldly into the future" and "his expression a virile embodiment of outrage at social injustice". hammer and sickle, Cuban flag, and the saying in Spanish (translation: "Towards Victory, Always"). The multi-meaning phrase became the sign off for Che Guevara's numerous letters and speeches as a revolutionary, and represent the commitment to both never give up on the eventual triumph of a Marxist world revolution, and the belief that this victory once it occurs, will be eternal. As a result, has become a de facto slogan or catchphrase, used as a motto by those who continue to support and/or admire Che Guevara's life and/or ideals. == Copyright status ==

For decades the famous image was unhindered by international copyright agreements, because Cuba was not a signatory to the Berne Convention. Fidel Castro described it as a bourgeois concept which meant that artists and advertisers were free to use Korda's work as they pleased. Legally, Cuban Law no. 156 signed on September 28, 1994, to amend part of Law no. 14 of the 1977 Copyright Act (Article 47), states that pictures taken in Cuba fall into the public domain worldwide, 25 years after their first use. Despite conflicting claims about whether or not the image could have copyright established, Korda's children have sought to control commercial use of the image from defamation. Korda's daughter Diana Diaz pursued a 2003 lawsuit in France against a Paris-based press rights group Reporters Without Borders, for using the Che photograph in a poster campaign decrying Cuba as "the world's largest jail", aimed at dissuading French tourists from vacationing in Cuba after the jailing of 29 dissident journalists. In suing the group for 1.14 million euros, Diaz's lawyer, Randy Yaloz remarked that "we are going after everyone who betrays the moral rights of my client". Moral rights are a separate component of copyright law that are not recognized in the U.S., but are recognized in some other countries, notably in France where Diaz filed the lawsuit. Moral rights aim to protect the integrity of a work from defamation, distortion, slander, or offensive mutilation, even if the originator no longer owns the copyright. Guevara's heirs also believe they have legal justification to prevent the image's "exploitation" or slander. Guevara's Cuban widow Aleida March stated in 2005 that "We have a plan to deal with the misuse. We can't attack everyone with lances like Don Quixote, but we can try to maintain the ethics of Guevara's legacy." In reference to this pronouncement, Guevara's daughter Aleida Guevara told Reuters, "It will be costly and difficult because each country has different laws, but a limit has to be drawn." ==See also==

Books • Alberto Korda: A Revolutionary Lens, by Diana Diaz & Mark Sanders, Steidl, 2007, • ''Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image'', by Michael Casey, Vintage Books USA, 2009, • Che Guevara: Revolutionary and Icon, by Trisha Ziff, Abrams Image, 2006, • Che: Images of a Revolutionary, by Oscar Sola, Pluto Press, 2000, • Che: The Photobiography of Che Guevara, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1998, • Cuba by Korda, by Christophe Loviny & Alberto Korda, Ocean Press (AU), 2006, • Self Portrait Che Guevara, by Ernesto Guevara & Victor Casaus, Ocean Press (AU), 2004, Films • Che Guevara: Kordavision, 2008 (87 min). Directed by Hector Cruz Sandoval. • Chevolution, 2008, Produced by Trisha Ziff & Directed by Luis Lopez, Red Envelope Entertainment. • Personal Che, 2008, Directed by Adriana Mariño and Douglas Duarte. == References ==