Ren Burri: Che Guevara Postcards

This uniquely-packaged cigar box contains 20 postcards of the famous revolutionary Che Guevara taken by world-renowned photographer Rene Burri. This series of images of the revolutionary are the most intimate. This cardbox will be published one month after the publication of Rene Burri Photographs (January 2004) on the occasion of the launch of this stunning career retrospective featuring over 400 duotone photographs. Famous photographer and member of the prestigious photo agency Magnum, Rene Burri captured the famous revolutionary on film during an interview for the American illustrated magazine Look in January 1963. The interview between Che Guevara and journalist Laura Berquist was a battle of ideologies as Che tried to convince his US interviewer of the successes of the Cuban revolution. Burri's powerful images capture Che Guevara as a complex and intense figure: in several postcards we see him in repose at his desk in front of closed blinds which he demanded remain shut; in another postcard, we see him pacing the office in combat dress; another postcard features a contact sheet showing Che in debate.

Also featured are sequences of images showing him by turns thoughtful, emotional, amused, tentative and always fully aware. The selection of postcards also includes Burri's iconic image of Che Guevara smoking a cigar which has been extensively reproduced on posters and t-shirts worldwide (row 3, column 1 in Sales Catalogue). This portrait of Che has become a universal representation of the legendary martyr, appearing on postcards and posters as a symbol of home-grown rebellion and anti-capitalism. Che Guevara made his last public appearance three weeks before Burri's photographs appeared in Look on 9 April 1963. His last public appearance was in May 1963 and he was executed in Bolivia in October 1967.