  We present B, V, Rc, J, H, and Ks photometry of the optical afterglow of the
gamma-ray burst GRB 021211 taken at the Magellan, MMT, and WIYN observatories
between 0.7 and 50 days after the burst. We find an intrinsic spectral slope at
optical and near-infrared wavelengths of 0.69 +/- 0.14 at 0.87 days. The
optical decay during the first day is almost identical to that of GRB 990123
except that GRB 021211's optical afterglow was intrinsically approximately 38
times fainter, and the transition from the reverse shock to the forward shock
may have occurred earlier than it did for GRB 990123. We find no evidence for a
jet break or the cooling break passing through optical frequencies during the
first day after the burst. There is weak evidence for a break in the J-band
decay between 0.89 and 1.87 days which may be due to a jet. The optical and
infrared data are consistent with a relativistic fireball where the shocked
electrons are in the slow cooling regime and the electron index is 2.3 +/- 0.1.
The forward shock appears to have been expanding in a homogeneous ambient
medium during the first day after the burst. Our analysis suggests that the jet
of GRB 021211 may have a small opening angle and that the total gamma-ray
energy is likely to be much less than the canonical value of 1.33E+51 erg. If
this is the case then it is possible that most of the energy of the burst is in
another form such as a frozen magnetic field, supernova ejecta, or a second jet
component. The host galaxy of GRB 021211 is subluminous and has a star
formation rate of at least one Solar mass per year.
