Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez – otherwise known as Alberto Korda – is internationally recognized as one of the masters of the Cuban photography of the Revolution whose portraits of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro inspired a generation of radical youth throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His most famous image is undoubtedly his powerful 1960 portrait of Che entitled Heroic Guerrilla, which has since become the most reproduced image in the history of photography.
Alberto Korda: A Revolutionary Lens is a book that covers all aspects of Korda’s extraordinary career with specific reference to his interest in fashion, the revolution and other features of Cuban society. Starting with his advertising work from the early 1950s the book traces Korda’s entry into the world of fashion and his belief in what he termed an ‘aesthetics of beauty’. Korda discovered this is not only in the sensuous female curves but also in the unique landscape of Cuba and in the revolutionary heroes’ magnificence.
“A man who develops work like mine is dedicated to something that he loves,” Korda stated shortly before his death. “I have loved the beauty of women as much as the moral beauty of the revolution”. Alberto Korda: A Revolutionary Lens is a celebration of Korda’s belief in beauty and has been edited with the support of Alberto Korda’s daughter Diana Diaz. All prints that appear in the book have been completed under the supervision and care of José A. Figueroa, Alberto Korda’s photographic assistant throughout the 1960s.