NOIRE

Alberto Korda was a Cuban photographer best known for his iconic image of Che Guevara. Born Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez on September 14, 1928 in Havana, Cuba, he began working as a photographer’s assistant as a young man and later for the newspaper Revolución. In 1960, while working on assignment, Korda took the famous photo of Guevara at a protest rally, after a Belgian freighter, carrying arms to Cuba, was blown up by counterrevolutionaries. Later in his career, he worked as Fidel Castro’s official photographer, often humanizing the revolutionary leader’s image by depicting him at ease with friends such as Ernest Hemmingway. Korda died on May 25, 2001 in Paris, France, while visiting for an exhibition of his work. Today, the photographer’s works are held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, and the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, among others.