Photographs Taken & Signed by Alberto Korda Offered at Dominic Winter Auction

Written by Percy Allister Thursday, 25 February 2010 20:18

GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK - Dominic Winter will auction a group of seven Cuba photographs taken and signed by Alberto Korda at their auction house in South Cerney, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on Thursday 4th March. The photographs were all acquired privately from the photographer Keith Cardwell who, in turn, obtained them from Korda himself before his death in 2001. Keith Cardwell knew Korda very well and set up a Korda exhibition in Savannah, USA, in 1999. He also helped mounted the Cuba Si! exhibition of Cuban photographers in 2000 at Royal National Theatre, London.

Chris Albury, Auctioneer and Photography Specialist said: "This is a great group of Korda's photographs of Revolutionary Cuba and like all great pictures they tell can a story without the need for additional words. I love the Capitalism v Communism irony of the photos of Che and Fidel playing golf in military uniform and of Fidel meeting Ernest Hemingway, but I also love the striking photo of the Cuban woman in military uniform and a lesser-known photograph of Che fishing, signed and numbered one of fifty. Highlight for me though is a great photograph of Fidel Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos riding into Havana with guns on 8th January 1959. The photo looks like a Hollywood film still and fully captures the smell of a historic world event as it was unfolding.

This was the photograph that effectively launched Korda's photojournalistic career and as Cienfuegos died in a (some say suspicious) plane crash later that year, photographs of this key and still popular revolutionary are far less common than those of Fidel and Che. All the photographs are signed by Korda and have estimates of 500 and more. They were all acquired from Korda himself ten years ago when Korda printed and signed most of them, and at a later date they were acquired by a friend and fellow Cuba fan who is now raising funds to emigrate. We have five other Korda photographs from other sources among the 170 lots of vintage photography and expect interest to be keen worldwide."

After the revolution, Korda became Fidel Castro's personal photographer for 10 years, accompanying Castro on trips and in meetings with foreign personalities. During this time he also took pictures of demonstrations, sugar cane harvests and factory scenes. Other less-known Fidel Castro images by Korda include shots of Castro staring warily at a tiger in a New York zoo, playing golf and fishing with Che Guevara, skiing and hunting in Russia, and with Ernest Hemingway. Korda's work also includes pictures of Castro's rebels riding into Havana after their triumph, and one known as The Quixote of the Lamp Post showing a Cuban wearing a straw hat and sitting on a lamp post against a sea of people during a rally.

From 1968 to 1978 he concentrated on underwater photography until a Japanese exhibition in 1978 stimulated international interest in his work. He appeared briefly in the pre-title sequence of Wim Wenders' film Buena Vista Social Club in 1999, although he was uncredited. Korda suffered a fatal heart attack in Paris in 2001 while presenting an exhibition of his work. He is buried in the Colon Cemetery, Havana.

The Photography part of the two-day Books, Maps, Prints & Photographs auction takes place on the second day, Thursday 4th March. Visit : http://www.dominicwinter.co.uk/

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