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Creator
Lynes, George Platt, 1907-1955
Call number
*MGZEB 16-243
Physical description
10.41 linear feet (27 boxes)
Preferred Citation

George Platt Lynes Photographs, *MGZEB 16-243. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

The George Platt Lynes Photographs collection documents dance (principally ballet) photographs taken by George Platt Lynes from 1933 to 1955 and contains mostly black and white negatives and some prints.

Biographical/historical information

Photographer George Platt Lynes was born in East Orange, New Jersey in 1907. He attended the Berkshire School in Massachusetts, where Lincoln Kirstein was a classmate. Lynes set up his studio in New York City circa 1932 and began taking photos for fashion magazines. In approximately 1934, he was commissioned to photograph the dances and dancers of the American Ballet (later New York City Ballet) which he did through 1955. Lynes died in New York City in 1955 of lung cancer at the age of 48.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of mostly black and white negatives (8 x 10" and 120 film) and some prints depicting the repertoire, ballet dancers and choreographers of Ballet Caravan, Ballet Society, Ballet Theatre, and later New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, from approximately 1933 to 1955.

Ballets well-represented in the collection include Billy the Kid (1938-1950), The Cage (1951-1953), Cakewalk (1951), Filling Station (1937-1953), Jones Beach (1950), Orpheus (1948-1950), Orpheus and Eurydice (1936), Symphony in C (1948), and La Valse) (1951). The collection contains two color transparencies: Billy the Kid (1938) and The Firebird (1949).

There are also numerous studio photographs of ballet notables such as George Balanchine, Alexandra Danilova, André Eglevsky, Nora Kaye, Tanaquil Le Clercq, Nicholas Magallanes, Alicia Markova, Francisco Moncion, Jerome Robbins, and Maria Tallchief.

Among many others also included are Martha Graham (1936) and Ram Gopal (1938), New York City Ballet corps members (1951-1952), and School of American Ballet (circa 1941-1948) with Edward Villella among the students.

Arrangement

Alphabetical.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Assembled from many sources and represents numerous gifts both large and small.

Some NYCB gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1968/03/21.

Ballet Caravan Publicity Session prints gift of Martha Swope, 1974 June.

Processing information

Compiled by cdee, 2016.

The assembly was presumably done by Dance Division staff.

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Dance Division at dance@nypl.org.