Focus on this artwork and analyze the Origins.
On March 4, 1960, the French freighter La Coubre exploded in Havana Harbor, killing up to 100 people and injuring several hundred more. Upon hearing the blast, Guevara rushed to the harbor to board the burning ship, angrily forcing his way past those concerned for his safety following a secondary explosion.The following day on March 5, President Fidel Castro blamed the U.S. CIA and called for a memorial service and mass demonstration at Havana's Colón Cemetery, to honor the victims. At the time, Guevara was Minister of Industry in the new government, and Korda was Castro's official photographer. After a funeral march along the seafront boulevard known as Malecón, Fidel Castro gave a eulogy for the fallen at a stage on the corner of 23rd and 12th streets. Castro gave a fiery speech, using the words "Patria o Muerte" ("Homeland or Death") for the first time.Meanwhile, at 11:20 am, Guevara came into view for a few seconds, wearing a jacket and a black beret with and inverted five-pointed brass star. Korda snapped just two frames of him from a distance of about 25–30 ft (7.6–9.1 m) before he disappeared from sight. Korda immediately realised his photograph had the attributes of a portrait. Later, Korda said of this photograph, "I remember it as if it were today … seeing him framed in the viewfinder, with that expression. I am still startled by the impact … it shakes me so powerfully".
During the rally, Korda took pictures of Cuban dignitaries and famous French existentialist philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, both admirers of Guevara at the time. Included in the film roll were shots of all the speakers and two pictures of Che's brief appearance. The classic picture appears on frame number 40 shot horizontally.The first photograph had Guevara framed alone between the silhouette of Jorge Masetti and a palm tree; the second with someone's head appearing above his shoulder. The first picture, with the intruding material cropped out and the image rotated slightly, became Guevara's most famous portrait. The editor of Revolución where Korda worked, decided to use only his shots of Castro, Sartre, and de Beauvoir, while sending the Che shot back to Korda. Believing the image was powerful, Korda made a cropped version for himself, which he enlarged and hung on his wall next to a portrait of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and also gave copies to some others as a gift. It was not until 1986 that José Figueroa, an established photographer in his own right who printed for Korda and was his unofficially "adopted" son, suggested they try printing the full frame version of the portrait. Korda continued to print both versions of the image up until his death.
To take the photograph, Korda used a Leica M2 with a 90 mm lens, loaded with Kodak Plus-X pan film. In speaking about the method, Korda remarked that "this photograph is not the product of knowledge or technique. It was really coincidence, pure luck."
Havana Leica M2 M2 Fidel Castro Pablo Neruda Jorge Masetti Colón Cemetery Jean-Paul Sartre right photograph Malecón Havana Harbor jacket Cuba existentialist CIA beret Simone de Beauvoir Leica Kodak