Some photos of Korda

The funeral of Korda

Paris, May 25 2001. Cuban photographer Alberto Diaz Korda, the author of the most universal photo image of Che, died in Paris of a heart attack. Korda was 72 years old according to the official sources who confirmed his sudden death. The master photographer was in Paris to open up a personal exposition of his work, and was due to come back to Havana today. Korda's outstanding photographic work includes such famous photos as the one known as the Heroic Guerrilla of Che, The Girl of the Wooden Doll, Camilo and Fidel entering Havana in 1959, and Don Quixote of the Lamplight. 

A few days ago the Danish film producer Facility House had announced that it is working in the editing of "The Vision of a Man", that deals with Korda's lifelong work. 

Also during last December's Havana Film Festival, part of the documentary Korda Vision was shown to the public, as it was still unfinished by Hector Cruz Sandoval its director. In the part of the film shown, the now deceased master of photography Korda, admitted how much it meant for his life meeting with the little girl Paulita, a small peasant that he photograph embracing her wooden doll. "She was something that I could not forget in my life", Korda told the filmmakers and he added that being in touch with that girl that didn't have a real doll made him renounce his work as a professional fashion magazines photographer and devote himself in full to the Revolution. 

Havana, May 29 2001. The outstanding Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez (Korda) was buried today with the presence of President Fidel Castro. At Colón Cemetery, Fidel talked with his daughter and son, great children and other families of the deceased intellectual, last Friday in Paris, at the age of 72. At the obsequies , there were Abel Prieto, member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Culture, artists, journalists and great part of the people of the capital who spontaneously gave him the last homage.

Carlos Martí, president of UNEAC ( organization for Cuban Artists and Writers) expressed when he gave his last words in the middle of a profound pain because of his absence. " We will always be thankful for Korda´s life and work, by the indelible influence to stay for ever in Cuba and the World, the memory of a fraternal comrade, college and friend. When we deposit his mortal rests at the homeland's breast that saw him born, we realize the great lost that his death represents for the Cuban culture, since it is impossible to separate his brilliant talent of a tireless man who deeply loved the Revolution and its Conquests." He outlined that his work is authentic because he knew to be a man of his time and gave himself deeply to contribute to the chronicle of the epic he lived in, and at the same time he was one of the main architects of that jewel that today is photography of the Cuban Revolution. Among the qualities of the disappeared photographer, Carlos Martí pointed out his essential being as Cuban, his penetrating look, a tender and friendly one and in love with beauty, at the same time his lasting legacy for ever between him and the most recognized artists of the XX Century. He recalled his diverse jobs as doctor visitor, traveler, and seller of commercial firms and his establishment as a professional photographer from 1956. He added that from the newspaper "Revolucion", Korda accompanied Fidel in his journeys through out the world and by the homeland: Santiago de Cuba, Sierra Maestra, the sugar harvest , the October crisis and as many deeds that stroke the island. Finally, Carlos Martí underlined Korda´s whole work as a state patrimony, and above all the image of the "Heroic Guerrila Man" by which and on behalf of the whole people, he had to face a trial at the attempts to use his immortal Che´s image in a mercantile use.

At the funeral, there were also, Héctor Cruz Sandoval, Chicano, author of the Korda Vision film, who told AIN´s Agency that a three years work will not end with the scene of his death, because his everyday spirit like his people is the best image to remember him. Sandoval commented his film debut on august 13 of year at Havana.