Many of these are stored at what may be the only other archive with original Lynes photographs—the University of Indiana’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. Alfred Kinsey himself, a frequent patron of Lynes’ work, is displayed in the show.

Because of “the people he chose and photographed and had access to,” Wilson says, it is hard to divorce Lynes’ work from the sexual politics of his social circles.

Lynes associated with many other prominent homosexuals in the New York art world, according to several biographers. Kirstein, for example, introduced Lynes to many of the elite dancers featured in the exhibit.

Despite the prevalence of sexuality in the discourse surrounding Lynes, Wilson says this show is “not about sexuality.”

“We want visitors to appreciate Lynes as an artist,” Wilson says. “We hope people will see research potential—historians of art, photography, fashion. I don’t think there were very many photographers who had such a sense of composition and of finding the way to represent a person.”

—“Portrait Photographs by George Platt Lynes” is on display until Feb. 28 at the Harvard Theatre Collection in Pusey Library.