In the first half of the twentieth century, George Platt Lynes was a successful commercial photographer best known for his fashion shoots and celebrity portraits. There was another side to his work, however: at the same time his photographs were appearing in magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, he was also building a portfolio of male nudes, which due to censorship had to remain out of public view. Lynes destroyed some of the nude photos in his later life, but others are held in private collections and many are housed in the Kinsey Institute.
Lynes’ life and career is the subject of Sam Shahid’s documentary Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes, which makes excellent use of archival materials and contemporary interviews to create a portrait not just of Lynes, but of the world in which he lived. He was an out gay man at a time when that was a rare choice, and his life and work are inextricably intertwined.
The subject of Hidden Master is not just that of artistic talent realized: it’s also about the importance of connections in making a career in the arts. Lynes was born with certain advantages—he attended the same boarding school as Lincoln Kirstein (who would later co-found the American Ballet) and at age 18 traveled to Paris, courtesy of his parents, at a time when that journey meant taking an ocean liner rather than an airplane. Lynes was also a remarkably handsome man, something that never hurts when making your way through life.
To his credit, Lynes made the most of privileges. On that first trip to Paris, he found his way into Gertrude Stein’s circle (she refers to him as “Baby George” in The Diary of Alice B. Toklas, much to his displeasure). Through Stein, he met many of the major cultural figures of the day, and a portrait he shot of her would play an important role in establishing his career.
Back in the U.S., Lynes dropped out of Yale and found his way into the New York equivalent of the Parisian salons, where he met Monroe Wheeler and Glenway Wescott, respectively a well-known writer and one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art (where Lynes’ photos were later exhibited). Wheeler and Wescott were also a gay couple in an open relationship, and Lynes soon became part of their relationship as well. Their mutual lives are documented in Lynes’ travel journals, which consist primarily of albums of photographs with annotations, some of which are included in this film, and in copious correspondence now housed at Yale University.
Originally planning to be a writer, Lynes discovered he had a talent for photography and quickly taught himself the craft. Success followed: his work was displayed at Julian Levy’s New York gallery in 1932, and soon he was getting fashion and portrait commissions. His photo of Gertrude Stein was used to publicize her opera Four Saints in Three Acts, and she was so pleased with it that she wrote to Lynes that she was appointing him to be her official photographer. Lynes was also appointed the first photographer for the American Ballet (now the New York City Ballet) founded by George Balanchine and Kirstein.
Seeing is believing, and Hidden Master includes a lot of photographs shot by Lynes, both from his portrait and magazine work and from the male nudes, now shown publicly for the first time. Lynes was not only a technical master, he also brought what one interview subject called “an edge” to his work, which made his photos a little different from those shot by anyone else. Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes is a thoroughly enjoyable documentary that tells an important story not just about an accomplished photographer, but also about the world in which he lived and worked. | Sarah Boslaugh
Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes is available for home viewing through Oct. 24 through NewFest 2023.
