Different "Che"s

Guerrillero Heroico
Photograph: Alberto Korda
Date:March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba

Korda has said that at the moment he shot the picture, he was drawn to Guevara's facial expression, which showed "absolute implacability"as well as anger and pain.Years later, Korda would say that the photo showed Che's firm and stoic character.Guevara was 31 at the time the photo was taken.

Popularised Cropped Version is shown below

In 1968, Jim Fitzpatrick traces the outline of Korda’s photo Original

Fitzpatrick’s graphic was later used in a 1968 painting attributed to Andy Warhol, and was later on sold to a gallery in Rome. The painting used the same graphic processes used on the acclaimed Marilyn Monroe pieces. However, this painting was a forgery, created by Gerard Malanga who needed money. When Warhol heard of the fraud, he shrewdly authenticated the fake, providing that all the money from sales went to him.

In 1967, Polish artist, Roman Cieslewicz, designed a poster with the words “Che Si” (Yes Che) emblazoned over the revolution leader’s face as his eyes and nose. This was later featured on the October 1967 cover of the French art magazine, Opus International.

Guerrillero Heroico made its American debut in 1968, when the image appeared as a poster advertising the February issue of a literary magazine called the Evergreen Review. It was painted by Paul Davis. Formatted to fit New York subway billboards, the response was extremely negative, resulting in a bomb being thrown into the Evergreen Review offices.






Cuban artists took to the image with abandon, cranking out Che pop art posters. Whether intentional or not, it’s an association that links Che, the armed warrior, with the freewheeling, free-love spirit of the hippy peace movement. Painting by Raúl Martínez.

Collection of El Museo Nacional de Bella Artes, Havana. Image courtesy of the Center for Cuban Studies, New York

The iconic image of Che Guevara shot by Cuban photographer Alberto "Korda" Gutiérrez is instantly recognizable the world over. No surprise, then, that the huge mural of Che that hangs from the Ministry of the Interior (the ministry in charge of national security), on the northwest corner of Havana's Plaza de la Revolución, is perhaps the most photographed site in Cuba. The massive mural takes up most of the seven-story windowless facade and was erected in 1995 from steel railings donated by the French government. The stenciled words "Hasta la Victoria Siempre ("Always Toward Victory") are spelled out beneath      the image.

Day of the Heroic Guerrilla - Serrano 1968

In Cuba 8th October is the Day of the Heroic Guerrilla and commemorates the revolutionary life of Che Guevara, executed by the CIA on October 9th 1967. This poster is vibrant, dramatic, colourful and celebratory. Che had only been dead a year and already he was becoming an icon, a symbol of the revolution and deified as the romantic freedom fighter. This is an early example of the use of Korda's famous cropped photograph of Che. Designer Elena Serrano has used pop art stylings to merge the legend with the Latin America that the Cuban leaders believed would eventually succumb to similar revolutions.




                                        Day of the Heroic Guerilla - Martinez 1978

This OSPAAAL poster from 1978 by Olivio Martinez uses warm sun drenched colours to idolise Che whose capture by the CIA and Bolivian Special Forces in October 1967 is commemorated each year on the Day of the Heroic Guerilla. Che was killed a day later on 9th October 1967. The simple design shows a sombre Che deep in thought and gazing into the distance - a more mature image than some of the more playful Cuban posters which tend to reference pop and psychedelic art.

Che by Maurice Murenzi

“Che y La Guadalupe (San Ernesto de La Higuera y Tonatzin)” [Che and The Guadalupe (San Ernesto de la Higuera and Honatzin)], 2011,pictures the revolutionary Che Guevara passionately embracing and receiving a kiss from Catholic icon, the Virgin Mary. It’s a suggestive and sexual encounter that symbolically unites the sacred and political. The oversaturation of imagery is difficult to engage but expresses the artist’s passion for his beliefs.

Che Guevara´s Monument at La Higuera (Bolivia), where he got killed.










                                                    Condom

Image courtesy of the exhibition “Revolution and Commerce Portrait of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda,”

The September 16, 1996 edition of Der Spiegel magazine entitled: “The Myth of Che Guevara”, featured Che’s image adorned with a halo of moving bullets











                                       Sunglasses advertisement, 1999. Jean Paul Gaultier, Paris.

Courtesy mostra Che Guevara: rivoluzionario e icona. The Legacy of Korda's Portrait










One of the most famous Cuban posters, this 1968 poster by Rostgaard for a Santiago Alvarez documentary makes use of Korda's iconic image of Che Guevara. Hasta la Victoria Siempre (Onwards Forever to Victory) is Che's declaration of commitment to the revolutionary struggle. It's a simple pop-art style poster that places Che's iconic image in a heavy-bordered black box - a common method of displaying images of the dead in some cultures.

The film was made after Che's death to tell the story of his efforts in Bolivia to highlight the struggle of the opressed indigenous peoples and to foment revolution there. The 19 minute documentary was made quickly and makes use of photographs of Che's experiences in Bolivia cut with speeches and footage of him working among the people.

Magnum ice cream wrapper. The slogan reads “The revolutionary struggle of the cherries was squashed as they were trapped between two layers of chocolate. May their memory live on in your mouth!”
Image courtesy of David Kunzle









Wine shop, Cinque Terre, Italy.

Photo by Catherine Mackenzie

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.”






Che of the Dead

by Brian Bingham

The idealized myth of Che becomes distant from the daily reality of a country that is communist in name but which is, for better or worse, increasingly integrated into the global capitalist economy, Cuban artists can’t resist using the image as a commentary on that society. This riff on Warhol and government propaganda is by Cuban Alfredo Manzo Cedeño. From Michael Casey’s personal collection.

OSPAAAL Poster Che Guevara Day Heroic Guerrilla Forjans Cuban Carteles Afiches

Tri Continental Magazine
July 1997