Rene Burri, a Swiss photographer who captured iconic black and white images of Communist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara and painter Pablo Picasso, has died. He was 81.
Magnum Photos, the agency he joined in 1955, confirmed Burri died today of cancer.
Burri was just 13 when he photographed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill standing in an open-top car during a visit to Switzerland in 1946.
In 1963, he traveled to Cuba and shot his famous picture of a cigar-chomping Che, seemingly pausing for thought during an interview.
Burri frequently photographed artists, including sculptor Alberto Giacometti and the architect Le Corbusier. An invitation to dine with Picasso in 1957 resulted in a series of intimate portraits of the painter.
