WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›George Platt Lynes

George Platt Lynes

George Platt Lynes

American, 1907

WA-00028269

Photography

Representation

None documented

11

Institutional Exhibitions

79

Works in Collection

260

Assets Indexed

3

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

70%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ474144 ULAN500003292

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Reinstallation of the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1980

No image

Edward Steichen Photography Center Reinstallation

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979

No image

Photography: Recent Acquisitions

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1973

No image

Abstraction in Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1951

No image

Portraits

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1943

No image

Twentieth Century Portraits

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1942–1943

No image

National Defense Poster Competition

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1941

No image

Three Centuries of American Art

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1938

No image

Photography 1839�1937

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1937

No image

Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1936–1937

No image

Murals by American Painters and Photographers

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1932

Field Verification (3 fields)

3 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/3648
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

George Platt Lynes was an American photographer working primarily in portraiture and dance documentation during the mid-twentieth century. Active from the 1930s through the 1950s, he developed a distinctive approach to studio photography marked by precise lighting and formal composition. His work encompassed fashion, theatrical subjects, and intimate studies of male figures, establishing him as a significant figure in American postwar photography before his death in 1955.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Photography

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (79)

Untitled (Nude with Pavel Tchelitchew's Golden Leaf)

1955 · Gelatin silver print

9 1/2 × 7 5/8" (24.3 × 19.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1954 · Gelatin silver print

7 1/4 × 8 3/4" (18.4 × 22.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Francisco Moncion in "La Gloire"

1952 · Gelatin silver print

13 7/8 × 11" (35.2 × 27.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1952 · Gelatin silver print

9 1/4 × 7 1/2" (23.4 × 19.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (John Leapheart and Robert [Buddy] X. McCarthy)

1952 · Gelatin silver print

8 1/2 × 7 1/2" (21.6 × 19.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (self-portrait)

1952 · Gelatin silver print

9 7/8 × 8" (25.1 × 20.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1951 · gelatin silver print from a paper negative

Image: 23.1 x 18.8 cm (9 1/8 x 7 3/8 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Untitled (Tanaquil Leclercq)

1950 · Gelatin silver prints, drymounted back-to-back and airbrushed with matte pigment

Sheet (each): 13 1/4 × 10 1/2 in. (33.7 × 26.7 cm) Mount: 13 1/4 × 10 1/2 × 1/16 in. (33.7 × 26.7 × 0.2 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Untitled (Herbert Bliss)

1950 · Gelatin silver print

9 1/4 × 7 1/2" (23.5 × 19.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Tanaquil Le Clercq in "Metamorphoses"

1950 · Gelatin silver print

13 5/16 × 10 6/8" (34.5 × 27.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1950 · Gelatin silver print

9 5/8 × 7 11/16" (24.5 × 19.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Maria Tallchief and Francisco Moncion, Firebird)

1949 · Gelatin silver prints, drymounted back-to-back and airbrushed with matte pigment

Sheet (each): 13 1/4 × 10 1/2 in. (33.7 × 26.7 cm) Mount: 13 1/4 × 10 1/2 × 1/16 in. (33.7 × 26.7 × 0.2 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Lincoln Kirstein

1948 · Gelatin silver print

9 7/8 × 8" (25.1 × 20.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Lincoln Kirstein

1948 · Gelatin silver print

9 1/2 × 7 3/4" (24.2 × 19.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1948 · Gelatin silver print

9 5/8 × 7 11/16" (24.5 × 19.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1948 · Gelatin silver print

9 9/16 × 7 11/16" (24.3 × 19.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Male Nude (Carlos McClandon)

Male Nude (Carlos McClandon)

1947 · gelatin silver print on baryta paper

width: 233 cm, height: 191 cm

Untitled (Nude In Front of Window)

1947 · Gelatin silver print

9 1/4 × 7 1/2" (23.5 × 19.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Nude Beside Window)

1947 · Gelatin silver print

9 3/16 × 7 1/2" (23.4 × 19.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Maria Tallchief, The Four Temperments)

1946 · Gelatin silver prints, drymounted back-to-back and airbrushed with matte pigment

Sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 1/2 in. (33.7 × 26.7 cm) Mount: 13 1/4 × 10 1/2 × 1/16 in. (33.7 × 26.7 × 0.2 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

1946 · Gelatin silver print

9 5/8 × 7 11/16" (24.5 × 19.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1945 · Gelatin silver print

9 3/8 × 7 3/4" (23.8 × 19.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Lincoln Kirstein

1943 · Gelatin silver print

10 × 8" (25.4 × 20.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1942 · Gelatin silver print

7 5/16 × 9 3/8" (18.5 × 23.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 79 artworks →

Artwork sources (6)

79 published of 240 catalogued · 96 with image

MoMA
67 publishedof 134 catalogued4 img
The Met
6 published
Whitney
4 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
1 published
Rijksmuseum
1 published1 img
+ 1 more source · 94 catalogued, not yet published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 2)

2 entries · 1 sources

Untitled
1951 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Male Nude (Carlos McClandon)
1947 · Rijksmuseum · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Male Nude (Carlos McClandon) (1947-09)

Rijksmuseum

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Relationships

3

Collections3

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern Art Whitney Museum of American Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art