George Silk Art

George Silk (1916 – 2004) was a photojournalist who was born in New Zealand. He first took up photography as a hobby in his youth. Later, from 1934 to 1939, he learned his craft while he was working in a camera store in Auckland. Upon leaving the store, his role as a professional photographer grew by great leaps as he was photographing his passions: motorcycling, skiing, yacht racing, and fishing. At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he took his portfolio of sports photographs to the office of the Prime Minister in Canberra and was immediately hired as a war photographer. Silk covered war zones in Japan and China for LIFE, New Guinea for the Australian Government, the Middle East, Greece, North Africa, Crete and Europe. Immediately after the war, he turned away from political conflicts and war and instead took up exploration stories, adventure and sports the Olympics, conservation and children, and the America’s Cup. Silk actually became the first LIFE’s permanently assigned sports photographer. During his career, he earned many awards from various bodies between 1960 and 1964, including Magazine Photographer of the Year. He worked as a staff photographer for LIFE until the close of the magazine as a weekly in 1973. His art, especially the framed George Silk art has captured the attention of many collectors over the years. That’s why even today, they are found in many collections all over the world. For the rest of his career, he worked as a sports photographer. He drew on the passion for the outdoors he acquired while he was growing in New Zealand.