Vintage black and white print by Blade (Neel Bate) depicting 1948 America’s first great contribution to vernacular gay art. The Barn in twelve panels tells the tale of a farmboy hitchhiker, a more experienced motorcyclist and the sex they have. A photographer friend of Bate’s made copies of The Barn for intended sale at gay bars. But police raided his place first, confiscating all copies of the clearly illegal drawings, the second great loss of Bate’s work. Lucky for all gay art-lovers, Lynes’ photographs of the sheets survive. Some greedy cop knew a good thing when he saw it: within months, crude bootleg reproductions of the sequence were circulating around the globe and down the years. Measures 8 x 11 inches