Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes

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George Platt Lynes began his career in the 1930s photographing celebrities, and it’s for those portraits, along with his extravagant fashion work, that he is best remembered today. However, Lynes’ heart and his greatest passion was focused in his private work with the male nude.

His groundbreaking photography influenced contemporary tastemakers of his time such as Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, and Cecil Beaton, and his legacy of influence made waves through the decades, inspiring such iconic photographers as Robert Mapplethorpe, Bruce Weber, and Andy Warhol.

When the Lavender Scare rocked the United States in the 1950s, Lynes’ work was forced underground and surreptitiously transported into the hands of private collections such as the Kinsey Institute and Frederick Koch. His work, both sensuous and radically explicit for its time, has only recently been fully rediscovered and appreciated for the revolution that it represents — a man capturing his fantasies as a gift, a window to a future envisaged by his camera lens.

From director Sam Shahid, Hidden Master features a stunning collection of photography from the 1930s to the 1950s, uncovering the less known life of Lynes: his gifted eye for the male form, his long-term friendships with Gertrude Stein and Alfred Kinsey, and his lasting influence as one of the first openly gay American artists.