Lincoln Kirstein 1907-1986

Unless you're an afficionado of ballet, Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) may the the most influential person of arts and letters that you never heard of.  Born to a newly wealthy excutive of Filene's Department Store in Boston, he met George Platt Lynes (who took photo above in 1940) while they were attending the Berkshire School.  Both later admitted to having homosexual relationships in the exclusive prep school, but never directly mentioned such with each other.  As a Harvard undegraduate, Lincoln founded the Hound and Horn, an avante garde literary quarterly that soon eclipsed the univerisity's official literary magazine.  He traveled to Europe almost every summer meeting major figures from literature, art, music and dance.  When he moved to New York around 1930, he immediately became a major force in the intellectual and homosexual communities.  

Today, I am doing a lengthy series on his life and associates, but it doesn't even begin to cover all the exceptional individuals that he helped, promoted, and inspired.  There are simply too many to list here.  For a really good introduction to his amazing life, go to:

https://www.lincolnkirstein.org/index.html