HE created the iconic image that’s adorned the walls of millions of homes across the globe – but passed up the opportunity to make hundreds of thousands in royalty cash.
And Dublin artist Jim Fitzpatrick, 81, has lifted the lid on how he met the man who inspired his most famous work – Che Guevara.
He told The Irish Sun: “I never sought royalties for the Che image because I was absolutely enraged by the manner of his death.”
The artist, who is also famous for his work designing Thin Lizzy album covers and Celtic myth illustrations, created the iconic black-on-red silkscreen image of the Cuban Revolution figure in 1968 – but decided against seeking the copyright at the time.
Explaining the move to leave the potential cash unclaimed, he said: “I never wanted to accumulate money, all I wanted was to put a roof over my head.”
The Skerries native, who battled cancer and other health issues, told of his surprise to be living into his 80s, but remains busy with new projects at his studio overlooking Sutton beach in north Dublin.
He told us: “I never thought I’d still be on the planet at this age. It’s way beyond my expectations.
“I had cancer in 2017, but survived that, and I am still walking around even after a hip replacement.
“Getting to 81 means I am getting to do all the things I wanted to do and that’s sending me down all sorts of highways and byways.”
And Jim’s focus remains keenly on revolutionary figures – but this time just closer to home.
He continued: “I was working on a project about the women of 1916 and now I am switching over onto a series about the rebels of 1798.”
Aside from creating stunning album sleeves for the likes of Thin Lizzy, Sinead O’Connor, and Ash, Jim makes a living from his website – jimfitzpatrick.com – where he sells limited edition signed prints and other luxury items.
Some of the notable album covers he’s produced over the years include Sinead O’Connor’s Faith And Courage and Thin Lizzy’s Black Rose: A Rock Legend – which has been a tattoo choice for celebs such as Axl Rose and Johnny Depp.
Jim also produced a striking portrait of American abolitionist Frederick Douglass for the civil rights leader’s family to commemorate his bicentennial in 2018.
But despite commissions from around the world throughout his long career, Jim lost his house to vulture funds a few years ago, and now owns an apartment where he creates his art.
The talented craftsman missed out on a fortune by refusing to copyright or charge for his most famous work – arguably the world’s most recognisable image.
The renowned piece on Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was based on a photograph by Alberto Diaz Gutierrez – known as Korda – in German magazine Stern in 1967.
While the image was later reproduced on t-shirts, cups, posters and other merchandise worldwide, Jim did not assert his copyright until 2010, more than four decades after its creation.
In 2013, Jim attempted to hand over the rights to the picture to the Cuban people to be administered by the Guevara family.
However, because Che’s family never signed and ratified the documents, the copyright on the picture remains with Jim.
He said: “It’s not valid until they sign those papers, but the family don’t want to be dragged into the courts for every copyright violation, and I don’t want to spend my time in the courts either.
‘ACT OF SOLIDARITY’
“Gerry Adams has tried to help. He brought me into the Dail to meet the new Cuban Ambassador, and explained to them, this image is worth millions and I want to give it to Cuba. Not as an act of charity but as an act of solidarity.
“I’ve been told I need to be patient. All I want to know is that when I pop my clogs, that piece of paper exists and I have done the right thing. I never wanted to accumulate money, all I wanted was to put a roof over my head.”
Jim created his two-tone masterpiece by making a line drop-out of Korda’s photograph.
He then submitted it to Dublin’s Scene to accompany a feature about the revolutionary’s move from Cuba to Bolivia.
Shortly after, Guevera was captured and killed by the Bolivian army.
The following year, when Fitzpatrick showed his stark poster at the Viva Che exhibition in London it instantly became a bestseller.
‘DEMAND WAS INSANE’
Jim explained: “The demand was insane. It went off like a rocket. I just kept supplying, supplying, supplying.
“I couldn’t afford to keep getting it photographed, which is why I had to make all these variations.”
Pop artist Andy Warhol was among those first to hail Fitzpatrick’s image as he credited the picture with inspiring him to create a nine-panel fluorescent-coloured silkscreen portrait of Che in its likeness.
Despite his image gaining popularity, Fitzpatrick didn’t pocket a penny from its global success due to his copyright stance.
He explained: “I never sought royalties for the Che image because I was absolutely enraged by the manner of his death.
“He was shot in the neck and left to drown in his own blood, because they didn’t want to harm his face.
“The Bolivians wanted his face intact so they could prove it was him. I was trying to get people to notice this man had been murdered.”
“I never thought I’d still be on the planet at this age. It’s way beyond my expectations.”
Jim Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick said he took the murder personally because he met the doomed Argentinean-born revolutionary five years prior to designing the poster while working as a barman at the Marine Hotel in Kilkee, Co Clare.
CHAT WITH CHE
Jim said: “What happened was Che was flying back from Moscow to Havana when his plane got grounded by fog at Shannon Airport.
“He ended up staying the night in Ireland and walked into the pub I was working in. I recognised him straight away.
“I remember him saying his father’s grandmother, Isabel Lynch, was from Cork, though I later learned she was from Galway.
“He was very proud of the fact that the Irish were the first to begin to bring down the British empire.”
AN IRISH ED ON HIS SHOULDERS
THIN Lizzy album designer Jim Fitzpatrick has said that Ed Sheeran can call himself Irish despite being born in the UK – just like his music icon pal Phil Lynott did.
Ed, 34, came under attack on social media when he told podcaster Louis Theroux that he identifies culturally as Irish, although he was born in Yorkshire and raised in Suffolk, England.
However, Celtic artist Jim has defended the Shape Of You hitmaker.
He told The Irish Sun: “Yes, Ed Sheeran is entitled to say his father’s family are Irish. Anybody with Irish blood is entitled to be Irish, it’s that simple.
“My friend Phil was born in West Bromwich, outside Birmingham, but he was vehemently Irish.
“Like Phil, Ed Sheeran is an amazing, talented songwriter, and I’d be very proud to add him to the list of Irish diaspora.
“President John F Kennedy and his brother Bobby Kennedy were not born here but they also had Irish blood and Irish genes. Anyone with Irish blood is entitled to say they are Irish, like Ed.”
Jim claims he is delighted that we are living in a time where Ed can boast of his Irishness.
He said: “I knew George Harrison of The Beatles who couldn’t say it back then, but they were all Irish. Paul McCartney is talking about his mum’s Irish family now.
“Once it was viewed in England as a sign of inferiority and then during The Troubles people clammed up about Irish pride and heritage, but now The Troubles are over, groups like Kneecap are extolling everything Irish and we have an Irish language revival and people worldwide can be open and proud about their roots.
“I only wish Phil was around to see this because he was proudly Irish at a time when it was wiser to keep your mouth shut about your Irishness in Britain.
“But Phil never tried to hide or disguise it. He strutted around England being an Irish man.”
The creative talent added: “When Che was murdered, the first thing his father said was, ‘Che died like a true Irish revolutionary’. That kind of stuff had a lot of resonance with me.”
Jim recently donated a print of 1916 hero Elizabeth O’Farrell to The Moore Street Preservation Trust, which is battling to save the historic street from development.
And, like most of Jim’s work, the limited edition signed print quickly sold out.
This Friday, Jim is donating another new work, a painting of 1798 Irish Rebellion icon John Kelly – who was immortalised in the Dubliners’ song Kelly, The Boy From Kilanne – to the National 1798 Rebellion Centre in Enniscorthy, Wexford.
