Customer Reviews

Intimate Companions: A Triography of George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, Lincoln Kirstein, and Their Circle

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In the introduction the author tells us that he is not concerned with social context but with "sexual shenanigans." This is unfortunate. The real story of these remarkable men deals with their enormous contribution to American modernist culture before World War II. Their sex lives are no more remarkable than any other bohemian group of their day and Leddick's voyeuristic obsession with bedrooms and penis size is ultimately boring to say nothing of discomforting. The endless number of sentences that include the words "must have," "I assume that they," "could have," "might have," "likely to have," shows just how many cracks there are in the factual foundation of this tawdry and disappointing book.

This book was a big disappointment. Unfortunately, Mr. Leddick is neither a scholar nor a very good story teller. His work is poorly documented, and provides little social context for the subjects' milieu. I was also disappointed in the book's failure to convey any historical context as the bits and pieces of the subjects' lives were scantilly discussed. Although he succeeds in giving the reader a rough synopsis of the lives of Lynes, Cadmus and Kirstein (at least covering the period of time that Lynes was alive), he conveys little understanding of the artistic contributions of each or how these men or their artistic contributions were interconnected. The book makes it seem that the three were only "intimate companions" through a loosely defined group of cocktail party habitués, hardly a basis for a meaningful "triography". One wonders why Leddick chose these three as worthy of a joint writing. It appears that a biography of each would have included little material about the others. I would have thought a "triography" of George Platt Lynes, Monroe Wheeler and Glenway Westcott, who lived in a ménage à trois of sorts, would have made far more interesting reading, as would a "triography" of Paul Cadmus, and Jared and Margaret French. Instead, the reader comes away from "Intimate Companions" starved to read a well-documented exposé of each of these men's lives and artistic contributions.

I picked up this book because I like the work of George Platt Lynes and Paul Cadmus a lot. I also read and liked very much Mr. Leddick's first novel and own a couple of his books on male nude photography. (I have little interest in Lincoln Kirstein or ballet either.) I finished this book not having learned much about either of these two men that I cared to remember. Part of the problem is that Mr. Leddick attempts too much. He is art critic, photography critic, dance critic, literary critic as well as consummate gossip. Additionally since there are no footnotes in this book, the reader has no idea whether Leddick's conclusions about anything are his or something he gleaned from the list of sources at the back of the book. Take the opening sentence from Leddick's chapter on Katherine Anne Porter: "Katherine Anne Porter is among the most esteemed women writers of the twentieth century in America." Is that Mr. Leddick's opinion-- and what qualifies him to make such a judgment-- or the literary critics who tell us whom we should read? Incidentally, Ms. Porter comes off as a most distasteful person. Mr. Leddick paints her as homophobic although she obviously hung out with a lot of people whose lives she couldn't tolerate. He might have discussed her racism as well if he wanted to really give us a rounded view of this pretty ugly woman.

I would have preferred more insight into what made Mr. Lynes one of America's great photographers and less information and speculation as to whom he did bed or might have taken to bed. Mr. Leddick does discuss at some length many of Cadmus' paintings. Without the actual reproductions preferably in color, however, it is impossible to know whether or not this writer has a clue as to what he is discussing.

Mr. Leddick does briefly discuss Lynes' influence on later photographers, particularly Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts. For my money, Lynes is the best photographer of the male nude this country has had. His studio lighting is creative and quite wonderful. Just look at the photographs of anyone who followed him to see the long shadow he cast. (And all this inventive and difficult lighting before the strobe. At least there were no monotonous umbrella reflections in the eyes of Lynes' models.) Robert Mapplethorpe--whose work I admire a lot-- but who lit every photograph he ever took pretty much the same way-- could certainly have learned a plenty from studying Lynes' lighting.

So if you want to appreciate these two men-- study their works and made your own judgments. Mr. Leddick has edited a fine book on Mr. Lynes' photographs and there are several fine books on Cadmus in color.

David Leddick has accomplished in this book what couldn't have been achieved by any impeccably-trained art critic or scholarly biographer: he has told the story of three vastly different but intertwined lives from the standpoint of a cultural historian who knew his subjects very well. I for one don't regret, as other reviewers have, that Leddick didn't write about the various other "menages a trois" that crop up in the world of George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, and Lincoln Kirstein. (I don't believe that the French-Cadmus or the Wheeler-Wescott-Lynes trios, for example, is particularly interesting beyond the sexually titillating.) On the other hand, the Lynes-Cadmus-Kirstein connection, to my knowledge, has not been explored in any depth at all, and Lynes especially is in need of an historical re-evaluation. Leddick does an admirable job of showing the kind of world these three men inhabited when they were at ease sexually and emotionally. Like another reviewer, I found the first-person introductions to the book's chapter divisions first-rate writing and terrific gay-history. And Leddick's evocation of Lynes, the flamboyant cement who seems to have held many of these friendships together, is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I enjoyed this book immensely.

My sole reason for acquiring this book was to learn more of the very private-seeming artist Paul Cadmus and to uderstand how he and Lincoln Kirstein came to be inlaws. As a result of the focus on George Platt Lynes, I will pursue more of his work as well. This narrative/history clarifies the various Cadmus paintings featuring Platt Lynes, Monroe Wheeler, and Glenway Westcott plus additional models. Personally, their sexual orientation is of no interest to me. Their art and contributions to art are indisputable. I enjoyed Mr. Leddick's presentation, which was fun and breezy. I look forward to locating Platt Lynes exhibitions and hope to view original Cadmus paintings before long. As for Jared French, imagine my surprise to discover a painting of his at the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY. Not once was there a single mention that any of these gentlemen might be fans of baseball, but you just never know, do you.

leddick's book about the lives and loves of lynes, cadmus and kirstein is one of the best!

it's informative, entertaining and a revelation for someone that is a fan of either new york city ballet or the beauteous photographs of george platt lynes. these men were the among the most complex men of arts in the last century. and lynes was even more complex because he was somewhat of an enigma, a self-styled court jester to the 1920 euro-american jet set and literati that got a life when he picked up a camera and began to document his contemporaries.

cadmus, by contrast, was the closest to a family man, painting a variety of portraits that documented the crazy seedy life of the west village but choosing to live a domesticated existence with his longtime partner in the countryside of upstate new york(i think, do not hold me to that).

but in addition to these lives, which leddick brings to life with humor and a economical approach to his prose, he also weaves in the stories of nycb dancers jose martinez, nicholas magallanes, frank moncion and tanaquil leclercq; other artists such as glenway westcott, leonard bernstein and monroe wheeler and the beautiful hangers-on that modelled for these men and provided characters that would become parts of novels they would write.

it's a world that various artists have tried to reconstruct and failed because of lack of talent or too many chemicals but this one time was definitely enough because it was definitely the right mix of people at the right time.

David Leddick's look at the mostly homosexual art world of New york in the early part of the 20th century is an absolute pleasure to read. As a Gen-X gay man, I find myself very curious about the history of my culture. Obviously these stories aren't usually passed down from parent to child. Mr. Leddick's use of a fictional cocktail party to introduce each decade sets just the right fun gossipy tone and helps the reader to imbibe the ensuing biographical information like it was a well mixed martini. Cheers to Mr. Leddick!

This is an abyssally written, horribly researched, inaccurate, unorganized babble of idle gossip about some truly great artists and writers. The author should not attempt to write about things beyond his limited ken. What a travesty that a publisher would agree to print such garbage!

David Leddick's look at the Gay Bohemeian New York during the early part of the 20th century was as fun as it was informative. Since homo-history is rarely passed down from parent to child it is important that scholars like Leddick are there to fill in the gaps for Gen-xers like myself. Leddick's technique of setting up each historical period as a fictional "cocktail party" was truly inspired. This helped make his history lessons as pleasurable as a well made martini. Cheers

As shallow look at some shallow men, specialy Platt Lynes. Only Paul Cadmus seems to have some reedeming qualities, and he is portrayed as undersexed and remote. I am glad I did not know any of these men.