Picture credit: Alberto Korda, courtesy of Dominic Winter Auctioneers
However, Korda’s preferred picture is not his famous shot of the Cuban revolutionary. It is his 1959 photo of a girl with a wooden doll that was captured in the Cuban countryside and now expected to fetch up to £2,500.
‘After he became famous for his photographs of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Korda rarely referred to or exhibited these early non-political photographs,’ said a spokesman for Dominic Winter Auctioneers.
‘And the rest of the photographs on offer are from the few years following the end of the Cuban Revolution at the start of 1959.’
The photos have been plucked from a collection belonging to Norka Korda, one of Alberto’s children.
Norka told auctioneers: ‘My father was looking for locations to take
fashion photos, and he found this girl, Paulina… It was published on
the front page of a local newspaper denouncing the poverty of the
countryside and of the children that didn’t have more than a stick of
wood for a doll and a piece of paper to clothe them with.
‘This
image prompted the inhabitants of Havana to buy masses of toys to send
as presents to the children of rural Cuba. It was always my father’s
favourite.’
Also on sale will be a full-length portrait of Castro from 1962 which is expected to bow out for £3,000-5,000.
The auction takes place on 7 March at Dominic Winter Auctioneers, South Cerney, Gloucestershire GL7 5UQ. For details visit www.dominicwinter.co.uk
