George Platt Lynes - The Last Photos

George Platt Lynes died in 1955 at only 48 years of age.  Today I will post photos from the last few years of his life.  I only have two photos reliably dated to 1955, probably because Mr. Lynes was very ill most of the year.  Having previously posted both of those, this set will be mostly from 1954.  We start with Umberto Visbal from that year in a strikingly masculine work of art.

 

Gordon Hansen I

Here we see Gordon Hansen, sometimes spelled Hanson.

 

Robert Shafer

Mr. Lynes had been using "headless" cropping for some time

 when he shot this photo of Robert Shafer.

 

Ted Starkowski

Although his photographic modeling for PaJaMa with Chuck Howard is perhaps better known, 

Ted Starkowski did pose for George Platt Lynes.  I think this is from 1953.

1953

All I have on this one is the year, 1953.

 

Gordon Hansen II

Here's another picture of Gordon Hansen.

I like it even more than the nude.

 

Mel Fillini

Here we have Mel Fillini in Nude Man Framed from 1954.  The style here is quite 

unlike most of Mr. Lynes's work, and that leaves me wondering if this would 

have been a trend in his photos had he survived longer.

 

Michael de Marco

This is Michael de Marco from 1954.

 

Gary Garrett

I posted this picture of Gary Garrett over five years ago, but I think it is worth seeing again.

 

Joseph Reyes

Finishing the set with Joseph Reyes from 1953.

 

George Platt Lynes 1941

This 1941PaJaMa photo of George Platt Lynes looks like something he would have done himself.

It is part of the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art and well documented as PaJaMa.

The title attached to it is simply "America," and I think it's pure genius.

 

The Genius of George Platt Lynes

It's time for our quarterly series on the genius of George Platt Lynes.  Slowly, but surely, more of his work is coming to light as time passes.  Today I will be posting some items that recently came to my attention and which I think are among his best.  We start with a self portrait with camera.

 

Different

This is my favorite of the day, simply because it is different . . . and beautiful.

 

Dance

Dance was a consistent theme in George Platt Lynes' work, and is shows up here.

 

Bulldog

Always ahead of his time, Mr. Lynes gives us the basic bulldog pose here.

 

Languid

 

When I thought of how to describe this one, only the word "languid" came to mind.

Shadow Reclining

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Together

The lines, the curves, and the shadows all come together in this one.

 

Duality

My source says that these two photos were meant to be seen as a single work of art. George Platt Lynes did this a number of times, sometimes with two images and sometimes with three.

 

Different

The angle of approach and sort of industrial feel make this picture rather different.