Sunday, April 24, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Aaron Copland... and Victor Kraft

This is Aaron Copland.  No great beauty, but a genius by any measure.  He is one of the great names in the history of American music, along with Leonard Bernstein.

Both Copland and Bernstein were gay.  This is no big secret.  Certainly though, genius is an attractive thing.  Farley Granger, who recently died, carried on an affair with Bernstein and, queried about their lovemaking, Granger was circumspect and private.  He did let slip that Bernstein was 'passionate'.

Possessing a face, in the words of that old adage, that only a mother could love, Copland himself had a strikingly handsome lover by the name of Victor Kraft.  Here is a picture of him:
Moving in the circles of the gay artistic elite of the last century, they also knew photographer George Platt Lynes.  Kraft was a model for Lynes.  Here is the result:
Gorgeous indeed, and nurtured by a genius.  It's too bad they couldn't walk hand and hand into the sunset. Aaron was a philanderer and it broke Victor's heart.  He ended up a broken man, at the whim of a mental disorder.  They remained friends, with Copland helping him later in life.



 Kraft became a photographer.  The above three images of Copland are by Kraft.


The above three images are by Cecil Beaton.  Kraft is paired with model Natalia Pavlovna Paley.
Here is Kraft with Copland in Yorkshire in 1970.

Hung








Hot foreskin... and everything else

Meaty

Nice furry behind

Alas, poor Yorick... Uh, no

Beefy

Tuesday, April 5, 2011