George Platt Lynes

Lynes spent his childhood in New Jersey but attended the Berkshire School in Massachusetts, where he was a classmate of Lincoln Kirstein (1907–1996).

His life was forever changed by the circle of friends that he would meet there including Gertrude Stein, Glenway Wescott, Monroe Wheeler.

He developed close friendships within a larger circle of artists including Jean Cocteau and Julien Levy, an art dealer and critic.

He was soon receiving commissions from Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and Vogue[1] including a cover with perhaps the first supermodel, Lisa Fonssagrives.

[2][5] He was also most notably friends with Katherine Anne Porter,[5] author of the novel Ship of Fools, whom he often enjoyed photographing wearing elaborate evening gowns and occasionally reenacting Shakespeare.

In the 1930s, he began taking nudes of friends, performers, and models, including a young Yul Brynner, although these remained private, unknown, and unpublished for years.

"He clearly was concerned that this work, which he considered his greatest achievement as a photographer, should not be dispersed or destroyed...We have to remember the time period we're talking about—America during the post-war Red Scare..."[7] After a final trip to Europe, Lynes returned to New York City, where he died in 1955.