This is Lyne's 1936 portrait of groundbreaking American composer and author Virgil Thomson, 1896-1989. Mr. Thompson and his lifelong lover Maurice Grosser, 1903-1986, lived for decades at the Hotel Chelsea in New York where they held a salon of gay glitterati of their era. Thomson induced Gertrude Stein to write the libretto for his opera Four Saints in Three Acts, and Grosser would take Georgia O'Keefe riding on the back of his motorcycle. Quite a pair, but I can't find a picture of the two together. This is a photo of Mr. Grosser by Carl van Vechten, whose work has appeared here:
Mr. Grosser is quite the looker and sounds like he was great fun too. Did he pose nude for Lynes? I haven't come across him before.
ReplyDeletePeter
I couldn't find any nudes, and don't think I didn't look.
DeleteJerry, there's a 1944 photo of Grosser and Georgia O'Keefe on a motorbike in New Mexico on Grosser's Wikipedia page. They look like a devil may care couple (not that they were a couple . ). I didn't know that Grosser was an artist. I like the work that I've just seen online. Another interesting person I've found out about thanks to your blog.
ReplyDeletePeter
Peter, I saw the picture as well while I was vainly looking for one of Thomson and Grosser together. There must be one somewhere deep in a private collection. Maybe someday.
DeleteThat portrait is completely and gloriously of its time. Sheer excellence.
ReplyDeleteTruly!
DeleteYeah, they all knew each other in New York. a salon of gay snobs and their hustler boyfriends. I am not impressed. Even Mr Platt-Lynes, what were those young men - muses, playthings, lovers, hustlers? A bunch of hanger-ons? Even Platt-Lynes at times was a hanger on. Funny how gay history, as it is, has no room for criticism. Stonewall, the bar, a mafia joint that sold hard drugs to gay youths, and yet we are to celebrate that? They were not the first. How about the doughnut shop in LA in 1965 or that cafeteria in SF in 1966?
ReplyDeleteScreaming Queens, the headlines cried. Yet today gay men look down on transexuals.
Not to mention the racism of the white gay community. I can remember myself going to gay clubs in LA in the 1980s, hell even the 1990s, and certain clubs and bars keeping people of color out. Is that something to proud of? Even gay porn with its plucked blondie boys, another point of so-called pride.
If we don't tell like it is, we condemn ourselves. -Rj/IE
What a judgmental little diatribe! Mr. Grosser was a successful artist whose work is still valued and collected. Lynes struggled at times (haven't we all?) and relied on friends and family for support. Does that make him a hanger on? I think not. The man was a genius. The gay community isn't and never has been a shining light of perfection, but we have come a long way and are far more advanced socially that any number of other groups you could mention. I see some sad self hatred in what you wrote. And don't try to delete it. I have saved it and will repost if you do.
DeleteOh, and one other thing. You don't have to write a full on essay every time you want to comment. Your comments are so long and frequent that they now routinely get placed by Google in the spam, but I have been manually posting them for you.