surrealist tradition. The images, representing the
myths of Dionysis, Pan, Orpheus, and Eros, and
others, were eroticized male nudes. These, along with
his more straightforward male nudes, make up the
bulk of the work he did between the late 1930s and
early 1950s. Lynes utilized the same manipulation of
light and composition as in his fashion and portrait
studies. In many cases, the figures are posed in scenes
that suggest narratives. In others, the concentration is
on the gesture and the pose, and in still others, the
emphasis shifts to the model’s direct engagement with
the viewer. There exists little differentiation in the way
Lynes photographed both the male and female nude.
In both, the emphasis on the musculature of the figure
and the eroticism of the form, has been suggested as a
direct result of his communication with sex researcher
Alfred C. Kinsey, the most noted collector at the time
of Lynes’ erotic images. Lynes pursued his relation-
ship with the Kinsey Institute as a repository for what
he considered his most important work (Miller 1994).
Lynes moved to California in 1945 to become
director ofVogue’s Hollywood studios. He made
many portraits of film stars at this time but found
this work debilitating. He returned to New York
after three years and spent the remainder of his life
doing fashion photography and continuing his per-
sonal work, although he never regained the notori-
ety that he had before his move to the West Coast.
Lynes was unable to exhibit most of his creative
work during his lifetime for fear that its homoerotic
qualities would endanger his career. He destroyed a
large portion of these photographs, and few of the
remainder were made public until Lynes was the
subject of a major retrospective at the Art Institute
of Chicago in 1960 andGeorge Platt Lynes: Photo-
graphs from the Kinsey Institutein 1993. Various
monographs followed including, George Platt
Lynes: Photographs 1931–1955, Twelvetrees Press,
1981; George Platt Lynes: Ballet, Twelvetrees
Press, 1985; andGeorge Platt Lynes, Photographs
from the Kinsey Institute, 1993. Lynes died nearly
impoverished in 1955.
VincentCianniSeealso: Abbott, Berenice; de Meyer, Baron
Adolph; Fashion Photography; Hoyningen-Huene,
George; Krull, Germaine; Levy, Julien; Man Ray;
Museum of Modern Art; Outerbridge, Jr., Paul;
Portraiture; Surrealism
Biography
Born in East Orange, New Jersey, 15 April 1907. Privately
educated. Enters Yale University, 1925. Makes first trip
to Europe, meets lifetime companions Glenway Wescott
and Monroe Wheeler, 1925. Publishes theAs Stable
Pamphlets, Englewood, New Jersey, 1925. Opens Park
Place Book Shop, Englewood, New Jersey, 1926. Exhi-
bits his celebrity portraits at Park Place Book Shop,
continues traveling to Europe, teaching himself photo-
graphy, 1928. Julien Levy arranges to include Lynes in
Surre ́alismexhibition, Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hart-
ford, Connecticut, 1931. First important exhibition
Julien Levy Gallery in tandem with Walker Evans,- Opens first New York City studio, 1933. Begins
publishing fashion and portrait work inTown and Coun-
try, Harper’s Bazaar, andVogue, 1934. Documents
American Ballet (now New York City Ballet), 1935.
Surrealistic compositionThe Sleepwalkerincluded in
Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism, 1936. Photographs
mythology series, 1937–1940. Disillusioned with New
York and his private life, Lynes closes his studio and
leaves for Los Angeles to headVoguemagazine’s Holly-
wood studio, 1945. Return to New York, 1948. Meets
sex researcher Alfred Kinsey who purchases photo-
graphs for Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, Indiana Insti-
tute, 1950. Publishes his male nudes in homoerotic
magazineDer Kries using the pseudonyms Roberto
Rolf and Robert Orville, 1951–1954. Declares bank-
ruptcy, 1954. Diagnosed terminally ill with cancer; last
portrait with Monroe Wheeler, May, 1955. Died in New
York, New York, 6 December 1955.
Selected Works
Frederick Ashton and the principal dancers of Four Saints in
Three Acts, 1934
The Sleepwalker, 1935
Portrait of Jean Cocteau, 1936
Yves Tanguy, c. 1938
Birth of Dionysus, 1936–1939
Cyclops, 1936–1939
Female Nude, 1940
Male Nude Hanging, 1940
Portrait of Tennessee Williams, 1944
Portrait of Jared French, 1945
Portrait of Lincoln Kirstein, 1948
Fashion Study for Vogue, 1948
Maria Tallchief in Firebird, 1949
Nicholas Magallenas and Francisco Moncion in Orpheus,
New York City Ballet, 1950
Female Nude, 1950
Male Nude as‘‘dying slave,’’ 1952
Male Nude on Faux Skin Rug, 1953Individual Exhibitions
1932 Portrait Photography by George Platt Lynes; Leggett
Gallery, New York, New York
1992 Fifty Photographs by George Platt Lynes; Julien Levy
Gallery, New York, New York
1941 Two Hundred Portraits by George Platt Lynes Plus an
Assortment of Less Formal Pictures of People; Pierre
Matisse Gallery, New York, New York
1973 George Platt Lynes, Portraits 1931–1952; Art Institute
of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1988 Sonnebend Gallery; New York, New York
1996 Nicholas Wilder Gallery; Los Angeles, CaliforniaLYNES, GEORGE PLATT