"Besides being singleminded in his predisposition for handsome unfettered manhood, Lynes was a master of studio lighting and dramatic improvisation. He used these talents to create bizarre Surrealist tableaux that stand head and shoulders above most other Surrealist inspired photography. Lynes was, in times less tolerant than ours, the Robert Mapplethorpe of his generation."

—New York Times Book Review

Lynes stands as one of the great American Surrealists, and his extensive work with portraiture and the ballet are invaluable documents of American cultural life during the thirties and forties.