At Ease: Miami Beach During the Second World War

March 19–June 7, 2015
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

To celebrate Miami Beach’s centennial, The Wolfsonian presented three successive installations showcasing works from its library. Exploring the city’s incredible transformation in the first half of the twentieth century—shaped by forces from entrepreneurial mega developers to the infamous 1926 hurricane and the Second World War—the installations traced the story of Miami Beach’s early development.

The first in the series, At Ease, focused on Miami Beach during the Second World War, when G.I.s trained and relaxed seaside and many Art Deco hotels served as Army Air Force barracks and military hospitals. At Ease was drawn largely from Judith Berson-Levinson’s “Sand in Their Boots” collection of photographs, viewbooks, magazines, and trainee yearbooks that expose the daily life and patriotic visual culture of the city during the war.