The work of George Daniell, internationally acclaimed photographer, will mark a major highlight of the Art Basel season when “At The Beach…From the Hudson River to the World,” a show featuring pieces from Daniell’s portfolio, opens Monday, December 2. A reception will be held from 9 P.M. to midnight at World Erotic Art Museum (WEAM; 1205 Washington Avenue).
A contemporary of Georgia O’Keefe and John Marin, whose portraits he exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz’s An American Place Gallery in New York, Daniell was rediscovered in 2002 when Bruce Weber, a leading fashion photographer and filmmaker, republished 16 of his historic 1930s Yonkers and Hudson River portraits in the book “All American Stories.”
Born in Yonkers, New York, on May 4, 1911, Daniell began a 60-year journey with a deep fascination for water and figures on the beach. His aim, he said, was “to capture beauty before it faded.” Also prominent in his extensive portfolio was a fascination with celebrity; he photographed artists, writers, and actors for stage and screen. In 1955, when King Vidor’s “War and Peace” was being filmed at Cinecetti on the Appian Way, he met Audrey Hepburn—and his celebrated portrait of her, along with those of Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, and other international personalities, will be seen in this show.