Artworks

Fidel Castro speaking with members of the new Cuban government. Raúl Castro is to the right, just out of frame.

Castro’s Communist Party seized power in February 1959, overthrowing Fulgencio Batista's government in a widely-publicized guerrilla war.

Schatzberg was invited to Cuba by Muriel Richter, the owner of the small Travel Digest magazine. Richter was friendly with Castro and asked him if she could bring a photographer to Havana. Extraordinarily, Schatzberg was given complete freedom and access to photograph Castro and his revolutionaries. He recalls snapping photos with a Nikon 35 mm camera as the aftermath of the Revolution unfolded around him. Several of Schatzberg's photos were published in the October 1959 issue of the magazine for an article titled "Castro, The Lawyer".