The story of a little boy from New Jersey that made magic with his camera and was a pioneer in homoerotic and racial portraiture.
The name of George Platt Lynes is one not to be overlooked and it is a happy coincidence to learn about his life and art in this month of Pride 2023 thanks to the documentary directed by Sam Shahid. The film shows the shadows and lights in the life of this visionary creator, who made visual statements decades before Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and particularly, Robert Mapplethorpe.
The linear narrative of the film takes us to the 1920s when an eighteen-year-old handsome George, who always lived out of the closet, travels to Paris to become a friend of Gertrude Stein and a member of her salon, where he met other habitués such as Man Ray, Colette, and Jean Cocteau to name three. After that promising debut in the circle of artists and intellectuals, he goes back to America to live his life fully due to his close relationship with Monroe Wheeler and Glenway Westcott, they told him he had a natural gift for photography, he dedicated to it self taught, developed an artistry on lighting, and also elaborated surreal and mythological settings. He worked as a freelance portrait photographer and collaborated with several fashion magazines and more. Important to say that in 1932 he exhibited his work along with Walker Evans at the Julien Levy Gallery.
Among his circle of friends, he was well known for his “Cocktail Parties”.
The film stretches from the 1920s to the 1950s, it is enjoyable because it shows a little of the correspondence, mainly letters George sent and received, and a stunning collection of his male nude portraits, without a doubt, he had a gifted eye for the male form and his attraction to it may be appreciated. “A man capturing his fantasies as a gift, a window to a future his camera saw coming before anyone else” says the synopsis.
Due to his friendship with Dr. Alfred Kinsey, an important part of his visual legacy has been deposited and is in the good hands of the institution after his name.
No surprise puritan American Cultural Society has not recognized properly the body of work of George Platt Lynes, it is about time to exhibit his talent in male nude photos and share it with the general public. Fortunately, Madrid´s Leica Gallery, with the help of Fundacion Loewe, dedicated the first solo exhibition in Spain to the artist in June 2022 as one of the highlights of
George Platt Lynes died in New York, he was 48 years old. He was one of the first photographers to portray frontal nudes that transmitted the joy of sexuality and its bonds with the gay community that lived in the shadows in those days. Shadows project to the present though.
PS The film will be screened at Provincetown Film Festival and Frameline Film Fest in SF
Review by José Mayorga , Guatemala, Central America lawyer and notary public, visual artist, and editor of El Azar Cultural, lives and works in Guatemala City. Cinema lover, curious about the possibilities life brings and eager to live the experience.
