Dan Winters has spent more than two decades creating memorable photographs for such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Rolling Stone. Best known for his iconic and distinctive celebrity portraits, Winters has photographed public figures ranging from the Dalai Lama to President Barack Obama, Hollywood celebrities from Leonardo DiCaprio to Helen Mirren, and artistic luminaries from Jeff Koons to William Christenberry. His style of portraiture is instantly recognizable, characterized by impeccable lighting, muted backgrounds of greens, browns, and grays, and the contemplative postures of his sitters.
Winters’s lifelong fascination with science, technology, and human ingenuity finds similar expression in significant groups of photographs: close-up studies of honeybees and of airplanes and a magnificent series devoted to the last three launches of NASA’s space shuttles. These photographs reveal an aspect of his career that is less familiar than his commercial work but is equally compelling.
In addition to photographs of popular icons, Winters’s accomplished body of work includes expressions of his personal vision. This lyrical body of work shows the same keen eye for lighting and composition that is so readily apparent in his commissioned color portraits, but with a decidedly more intimate ambiance: photographs of his wife and son, spare cityscapes, elegant collages.
Dan Winters’s America: Icons & Ingenuity is the first museum exhibition dedicated to the work of this talented artist, and includes more than one hundred examples of Winters’s work in various media.
Dan Winters began his career as a photojournalist in Ventura County, California. After winning several regional awards, he moved to New York City and began to work as an editorial photographer. He is widely recognized for his unique celebrity portraiture, scientific photography, drawings, collages, and photojournalism. Winters has been the recipient of more than one hundred national and international awards. In 1998 he received the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography; in 2003 he received a World Press Photo Award and was honored by Kodak as a photographic “icon” in their Legends series. His work has been the subject of four solo exhibitions in galleries in New York City and Los Angeles. His most recent book, Last Launch, was published in 2012 by the University of Texas Press. Winters’s work is represented in many private and public collections, such as the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Wittliff Collection at Texas State University-San Marcos. Winters and his wife, Kathryn, divide their time between Austin, Los Angeles, and Savannah.
This exhibition is organized by Telfair Museums and curated by Courtney McNeil.
The exhibition is sponsored in part by Danyse and Julius Edel, Marla and Morris Geffen, Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, and Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Rabinowitz.
Media Sponsor: South Magazine.
The catalogue accompanying this exhibition is generously supported by the Telfair Academy Guild.
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RELATED PROGRAMS:
Director’s Circle Preview Dinner
September 12 / 6 pm
Catered by Starland Dining Group, with guest of honor Dan Winters. Space is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. Cost is $85 per person. Reservations and pre-payment required by September 7, 2012. RSVP to Catherine Renner at 912.790.8844 or rennerc@telfair.org
Lecture by Dan Winters and Members’ Opening Reception
September 13 / 6 pm
Free to members or with museum admission. Sponsored by the Telfair Academy Guild
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Top: Dan Winters; Denzel Washington
Dan Winters; Leonardo DiCaprio
Dan Winters; Helen Mirren
Dan Winters; Photo Booth
Dan Winters; Discovery Launch
