Photo courtesy of ‘Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes’
If you’re not familiar with photographer George Platt Lynes, his gorgeous body of work includes plenty of erotic, stark, and stylized portraits of the male body—in all its glory.
In sharp black-and-white, strikingly composed, and tastefully nude, many of these photos would look right at home in any contemporary art museum.
And, with one look at Platt Lynes’ subjects—devastatingly handsome men unafraid to flaunt their muscles, body hair, and other stunning features—you could also imagine his work getting some attention at a Tom Of Finland art show!
Very cool, very sexy, and very of-the-moment, right?
But the thing is, most of these photographs? They’re nearly a century old!
George Platt Lynes was an American fashion and commercial photographer whose career flourished in the 1930s and ’40s. Much of his work—like that seen above—was radically intimate and explicit, clearly capturing the male form through the queer gaze. Decades before the gay rights movement, mind you!
He was undoubtedly ahead of his time, and is now considered to be the “archetype for an out, gay American artist.”
Photos courtesy of ‘Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes’
However, it’s only recently that the breadth of his work has come into focus. He made his money working on commission for magazine like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, but in private amassed a head-spinning collection of nudes and homoerotic art—frequently photographing his friends, models, and performers (including screen idol Yul Brenner) in the buff.
When he died in 1955 from lung cancer (he was only 48), it was reported that Platt Lynes had destroyed his personal archive. But it later came to light that he had left that work to the Kinsey Institute, where his friend Dr. Alfred Kinsey was doing groundbreaking research on homosexuality.
The out-gay photographer of the 1930s loved photographing naked men in very homoerotic poses.
Now, a documentary aims to shed light on some of this long-forgotten work, uncovering the true life of the artist that so few knew about, and celebrating his truly revolutionary vision.
Assembled by art director Sam Shahid, Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes gives the groundbreaking photographer the spotlight moment he’s always deserved.
The retrospective film premiered last year and has since traveled to LGBTQ+ film festivals around the world. Next stop? The BFI Flare festival in London—if you’re in town, tickets will be available soon! And, if you’re not, good news: Recently, Greenwich Entertainment picked up the doc for U.S. distribution and, per Deadline, ‘plans to release the documentary this spring in theaters and on home entertainment platforms.”
You can follow the film’s official Instagram page for more updates, and check out a brief teaser clip below:
