Che Guevara

We've seen plentiful of people ignorantly wearing shirts with the image of 'Che', haven't you? Since it will take a lengthy post to explain Che's persona, allow us to at least clarify the history behind one of the most famous photographs in the world.

The originator of this symbolic image goes by the name of Alberto Diaz Gutierrez aka Alberto Korda, which at the time was Fidel Castro's photographer. The photographer captured the image during a mass funeral on March 5th, 1960, a day after a French cargo ship loaded with arsenals had exploded in the city's harbor causing the death of 80 Cubans. The picture seen above entitled,"Guerrillero Heroico", by Korda himself, is the original picture of Che (with a man anterior to him and a palm tree in the background), which was later cropped isolating and focusing on Che. Without any publication for a year, the image hung outside of Korda's studio visible to only the by passers until it met the eyes of the Leftist and intellectual named Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Korda allowed him to republish it while giving him two 8 x 10 cm prints more as a gift. Unfortunately, Che happened to die a few moths after in 1967 and around that time was when Feltrinelli started distributing copies throughout Italy as well as using it for the cover of his "Diario Del Che In Bolivia" book. Despite the rapid popularity it gained throughout Europe, Korda gained no royalties for the use of his image and received little kudos due to Feltrinelli's failure to credit Alberto. Korda died in 2001 leaving this world happy to know his image was used as a revolutionary banner.