Item #6849

np: np, [ca. 1970s]. Serigraph. 24 x 35 ¾ in. Very good, with an open tear on the bottom left corner (< 1 ¼ in.), an open tear on the bottom of the right edge (< ¾ in.), three pin-holes on the remaining covers with wear and abrasions around them; some wear, age-toning and discoloration.

Silkscreen poster of Che Guevara in Day-Glo red, rendered from Jim Fitzpatrick’s ubiquitous “Viva Che” illustration of Alberto Korda’s “Guerrillero Heroico” photograph.

Fitzpatrick made an illustration of the iconic photograph after the death of Guevara, in an act of homage, agitation, and friendship, having met the revolutionary during Che’s 1963 tour in Ireland. Notably Fitzpatrick did not copyright his illustration, which led to unprecedentedly widespread (and often anonymous) dissemination, especially as Cuban law did not admit copyright laws at all until 1994. Only since the turn of the century have “moral rights” been claimed over the image by the children of both Korda and Guevara; with the artist-pornographer Bruce LaBruce the most curious and improbable of victims: he was sued for the use of Che Guevara’s image in his movie Raspberry Reich, where a young male revolutionary masturbates and then ejaculates on the famous poster.

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