George Platt Lynes

Rating:
Summary: Excellent stuff
Review: "As a photographer George Platt Lynes was a brilliant craftsman and master of composition, whether it be in one of his many portraits of the famous and the legendary, or in his stunningly vivid documentations of the New York City Ballet. But Platt Lynes was also a myth-maker with a photographic obsession that remained mostly unpublished until after his death. In collaboration with his male nude models he was able to transcend time and place - these images simultaniously glance back as a "homage" to Greek mythology and athleticism, and look forward to the modern, urban eroticism of Robert Mapplethorpe and Bruce Weber. This book breaks down his body of work into distinct sections. The portraits include such luminaries of twentieth century art and society as Thomas Mann, Igor Stravinsky and Gertrude Stein, as well as fellow lens-men Cecil Beaton and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and it is clear from the lighting and the often surreal framing that he was a master of the form. It is in his extensive nude images that his admiration for the male body and his expert technique are truly brought together." - text from Intermale

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview of Brilliant Photographer's B&W Works
Review: Despite the eye-catching photo on the cover, this book has more than stunning male nudes. The book is divided into sections, including magnificent Portraits of well-known people in the arts (Cecil Beaton, e.e. cummings -- it's a fun, eclectic selection), Ballet photography, Nudes (both sexes, but mostly male), and Fashion. All the photographs are black & white, and every single one is well worth extended viewing. Lynes manages to make every subject beautiful and fascinating; each pose pulls you in, and his use of lighting is extraordinary. There are also helpful essays at the start of each section, which put the work in the context of the artist's life. It's a perfect introduction to this great photographer; a wonderful book to own, or to give.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview of Brilliant Photographer's B&W Works
Review: Despite the eye-catching photo on the cover, this book has more than stunning male nudes. The book is divided into sections, including magnificent Portraits of well-known people in the arts (Cecil Beaton, e.e. cummings -- it's a fun, eclectic selection), Ballet photography, Nudes (both sexes, but mostly male), and Fashion. All the photographs are black & white, and every single one is well worth extended viewing. Lynes manages to make every subject beautiful and fascinating; each pose pulls you in, and his use of lighting is extraordinary. There are also helpful essays at the start of each section, which put the work in the context of the artist's life. It's a perfect introduction to this great photographer; a wonderful book to own, or to give.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Book!
Review: George Platt Lynes has to be one of the most influential of Twentieth Century American photographers. This beautifully printed book by David Leddick illustrates that. In his narrative, Mr. Leddick says that both Bruce Webber and Herb Ritts were influenced by Lynes. I would add Arnold Newman-- his environmental portraits recall those of Lynes--Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jack Shear and Arthur Tress, just to name a few. Mr. Leddick divides the photographs in five categories: portraits, ballet, nudes, fashion and mythology. The very first photograph in the series of portraits is one of Lynes' first ever, a stunning portrait of Gertrude Stein, proof that one can learn apertures and lighting but that genius is by birth.

Certainly Mr. Leddick's commentary is adequate; but if you want to really enjoy this book, just look at these photos. Certainly no one was better at lighting a face or body than Mr. Lynes. And he did his work before the advent of the strobe lights, something that seems to make a lot of later photographers lazy.

A word about the photographer's nudes. Some of these models, both male and female, had less than perfect bodies. They are lit beautifully, however, and prove the theory that lighting can make most anyone beautiful, and if not beautiful in the case of portraits, at least interesting. If you are tired of looking at book after book filled with color photographs of endless buffed bodies that look like all the other buffed bodies and about as interesting as passport photographs, spend some time with these incredible works of art. You'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Owning
Review: I recently purchased this book simply because I had seen a few plates of the photographer's work in other collections, and own several other titles by this publisher, Taschen. Now that I own it, I'm very pleased with this addition to my collection. It's a substantial collection covering everything from homoerotic male nudes to Orson Wells. As a collector of books on art and photography, I'm used to measuring work by a pretty stringent standard and this edition meets it. Good prints, standard historical references and backgrounds, also works well as a research tool. I highly recommend this book. This book will escalate in value over time, the Amazon cost is a good value.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Lynes' photography is truly amazing! I will never tire of their nuanced beauty, and really love this collection of his best work.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Edition of Lynes Photography!
Review: Over the years I have collected everything I can about George Platt Lynes career as a photographer. As a true admirer of his wonderful black & white photography I feel this is a wonderful new addition published by Taschen. It's a beautiful over-sized book with over 240 pages of beautifully reproduced photos of his many different images. The book is broken down into five sections; Portraits, Ballet, Nudes, Fashion and Mythology. I especially enjoyed his ballet photos, fashion and nude images. Each section has a detailed history of each photography subject.

It's a great history of his career. There is a detailed biography by David Leddick that is excellent. It's very informative and helpful if you are not familiar with Lynes work, or if you are just refreshing your knowledge of this man's great photography from the 30's & 40's. There was a certain innocent and raw beauty in photography back then that makes these images of his very classic. Lynes use of shadows and light make his models come right at you, in such stark realistic fashion.

This book would make a great gift, or a great addition to your collection, or coffee-table. A real visual experience from one of the best!

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Edition of Lynes Photography!
Review: Over the years I have collected everything I can about George Platt Lynes career as a photographer. As a true admirer of his wonderful black & white photography I feel this is a wonderful new addition published by Taschen. It's a beautiful over-sized book with over 240 pages of beautifully reproduced photos of his many different images. The book is broken down into five sections; Portraits, Ballet, Nudes, Fashion and Mythology. I especially enjoyed his ballet photos, fashion and nude images. Each section has a detailed history of each photography subject.

It's a great history of his career. There is a detailed biography by David Leddick that is excellent. It's very informative and helpful if you are not familiar with Lynes work, or if you are just refreshing your knowledge of this man's great photography from the 30's & 40's. There was a certain innocent and raw beauty in photography back then that makes these images of his very classic. Lynes use of shadows and light make his models come right at you, in such stark realistic fashion.

This book would make a great gift, or a great addition to your collection, or coffee-table. A real visual experience from one of the best!

Rating:
Summary: George platt Lynes by David Leddick
Review: The very first line of this book warns the reader that David Leddick is no scholar. He states that Lynes was one of the most famous photographers in America by the mid-century. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lynes's career began to falter in the 1940's and by 1950 he was pretty much unknown outside a small New York gay and fashion circle. Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, W. Eugene Smith, Horst P. Horst, Man Ray, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Edward Steichen and even Lynes's friend Cecil Beaton were the most famous photographers in America at that time, many were household names. Lynes was never anywhere near their level of celebrity in his lifetime. More of a problem is the author's uninspired photo selection which is missing some of Lynes's great masterpieces. It seems as though the author simply compressed Jack Woody's three great books on Lynes (published by Twelve Trees Press) into one, but without Woody's fastidious eye. A big book but no one is home!

Rating:
Summary: TASCHEN BOOK SHOWCASES WORK OF PIONEERING PHOTO-SENSUALIST
Review: With the same masterful lighting and surreal compositions he brought to bear on portrait, dance and fashion photography, George Platt Lynes (1907-1955) created throughout his career a hidden body of marvelous work celebrating the nude male form.

In this newest addition to TASCHEN's award winning Photography Series, author David Leddick divides George Platt Lynes' photography into distinct sections; Portraits, the Ballet, Fashion, Nudes, and Mythology, and meticulously documents the striking work of this influential 20th century photographer.

The Portraits section includes images of so many important, creative men and women including Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, Colette, Gloria Swanson, Igor Stravinsky and Henri Cartier-Bresson, that it is a veritable Who's Who of the cultural elite of Platt Lynes' time.

Platt Lynes' ballet work grew out of an almost life-long association with dance impresario Lincoln Kirstein that dated back to their schooldays. For nearly 20 years, starting in 1933, Platt Lynes' photos documented the fantastically exciting evolution of Kirstein's and George Balanchine's American Ballet Company and recorded for posterity ground-breaking ballets including the '36 Orpheus and Eurydice with magnificent sets and costumes by Pavel Tchelitchew, a decade later the equally revolutionary Orpheus with sets and costumes by Isamu Noguchi, and in '49 the dazzling Firebird, a signature dance of the New York City Ballet.

Platt Lynes fashion photography was extraordinary - using to the fullest dramatic lighting, surreal sets and the most arresting models, he created a body of stunning images that showed couture to its best advantage for clients like Harper's Bazaar and Lord & Taylor.

Finally, in the Nudes and Mythology sections, Platt Lynes' personal passions are truly revealed. Though he did his share of lovely female nudes it is his male nudes that resonate. A photographic obsession that remained secret until after his death, Platt Lynes' work with male nude models transcended time and place, referring back to classical Greek athleticism and forward to the modern urban eroticism of Robert Mapplethorpe and Bruce Weber. Erotic and forthright, these pictures are a passionate celebration of the male form.