Original Black and White Photograph of Johnny Weissmuller by George Hurrell

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Original Black and White Photograph of Johnny Weissmuller

Black and white photograph 1932, depicting Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller (Hungary, 1904-1984) … Read more Original Black and White Photograph of Johnny Weissmuller

Black and white photograph 1932, depicting Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller (Hungary, 1904-1984) by George Hurrell (America, 1904-1992). Later re-print by the Hurrell Studio with the artists stamp and printers signature. Weissmuller is seen leaning against a wall, his hands behind his back, as he gazes to the left.

Signed "George Harrell" verso and stamped "Hurrell" verso.

Presented in a black mat.
Mat: 12"H x 9"W
Paper: 10"H x 8"W
Image: 9.5"H x 7.5"W

Born in Kentucky and raised in Cincinnati, George Hurrell displayed an interest in drawing at an early age. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago briefly, then the neighboring Academy of Fine Arts in his teens, but he left school in 1922 and attempted a career as a painter. He took a job hand-painting photographs in a commercial studio, and accepted a series of temporary positions with other commercial studios, learning technical skills that didn't interest him. In 1925 he moved to California, where he discovered that his photographs sold better than his paintings; he cultivated a reputation for his photographic portraits. Hurrell met Edward Steichen in 1928, when the elder photographer borrowed his darkroom to develop his photographs of Greta Garbo. Hurrell's first major Hollywood commission was to photograph the actor Ramon Novarro. He went on to work as a freelance or staff photographer for five movie production companies between 1930 and 1956, and at the Pentagon during the World War II. Hurrell resumed freelance work between 1960 and 1975, when the demand for his portraits had waned. Rediscovered during the 1970s, he enjoyed a brief second career, and his work was the subject of several monographs, including The Hurrell Style: 50 Years of Photographing Hollywood (1976) and Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits: The Chapman Collection (1997). Hurrell revolutionized Hollywood portraiture between 1925 and 1950 through his ability to capture and create the glamour, allure, and celebrity of his subjects. In many of his images, elegant artifice renders them almost as living sculptures. Before Hurrell's time, promotional stills throughout the movie industry were in a homogeneous style, characterized by soft-focus, generic studio settings, and standard lighting placement. Changing public tastes and the popularization of television altered Hollywood marketing priorities in the 1950s and 1960s, and Hurrell's approach to portraiture fell out of favor.


Johnny Weissmuller was a Hungarian-born ethnic German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive-swimming records of the 20th century. He set world records alongside winning five gold medals in the Olympics.
Films include: Glorifying the American Girl 1929, Tarzan the Ape Man 1932, Tarzan and His Mate 1934,Tarzan Escapes 1936, Tarzan Finds a Son 1939, Tarzan's Secret Treasure 1941, Tarzan's New York Adventure 1942, Tarzan Triumphs, Tarzan's Desert Mystery 1943, Tarzan and the Amazons 1945, Tarzan and the Leopard Woman, Swamp Fire 1946
Tarzan and the Huntress, Tarzan and the Mermaids 1947, Captive Girl 1950, Jungle Jim and the Forbidden Land 1952, Savage Mutiny 1953, Cannibal Attack 1954, Won Ton Ton the Dog That Saved Hollywood 1976. See less