Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-301) and index.

"From the late twenties to the early fifties, photographer George Platt Lynes, painter Paul Cadmus, and critic Lincoln Kirstein jointly and separately were among the most influential figures in the burgeoning art scene. Centered in New York City, they helped create and define the esthetic and the institutions of the American art world and had an enormous impact around the world. With an overlapping circle of friends, lovers, collaborators, and models, Cadmus, Platt Lynes, and Kirstein created a world of gay esthetics and desire in art that was groundbreaking at the time and remarkable even today." "Through hours of conversation with surviving members of their circle and unprecedented access to papers, journals, and previously unreleased photographs and artwork, David Leddick has brought to vivid life the careers and loves, connections and interconnections, and the inspirations and influences of this now-vanished world."--BOOK JACKET.