We'll be joined for a Q&A with director Sam Shahid hosted by producer and programmer Rebecca del Tufo after the screening on Friday 11 July.
An intimate look at pioneering artist George Platt Lynes, who took radically explicit photographs of the male nude. The documentary reveals Lynes' gifted eye for the male form, his long-term friendships with Gertrude Stein and Alfred Kinsey, and his lasting influence as one of the first openly gay American artists.
The Garden Cinema View:
Prior to Stonewall, and before the concepts of queer art, polyamory, and throuples went mainstream, there was George Platt Lynes. A fiercely talented photographer who was never really in the closet, and unapologetically worshiped the male nude form in his art. Moving through the bohemian circles of his time, Lynes found kinship with fellow artists like Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, and Man Ray, creating work that pushed boundaries and inspired later artists like Robert Mapplethorpe.
Not that everything was smooth sailing! His erotic art was mostly kept locked away in his personal archives while he earned his living through exceptionally elegant and poised commercial fashion photography for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. So a vast part of his work remained, as the title indicates, hidden. This documentary attempts to correct this, immersing us in the beauty of his artistic vision and introducing us to this brave, brazen character who was celebrating his true nature - even when the world wasn't ready to celebrate it back.
