Paul Cadmus
Encyclopedia
Paul Cadmus was an American artist. He is best known for his paintings and drawings of nude male figures. His works combined elements of eroticism and social critique to produce a style often called magic realism
. He painted with egg tempera
.
of the WPA
. This painting, featuring carousing sailors, women, and a homosexual couple, was the subject of a public outcry and was removed from exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery
. The publicity helped to launch his career. "The Battle of the Corcoran" was a critical turning point in the career of the young, 29 year-old Greenwich Village artist who was suddenly thrust into national prominence. Involving elements of overt censorship, it was brought back into the limelight decades later.
As a young scholar, Philip Eliasoph was given unprecedented access to work with Cadmus to record for posterity the biographical details of his career. Completing 'Paul Cadmus:Life & Work' [SUNY at Binghamton, 1979] Eliasoph realized there was a missing piece as Cadmus' notorious sailor painting was created for the first New Deal art project, the P.W.A.P. and rightfully belonged in the public domain as Federal property. 'The Fleet's In!' had been seized by Navy admirals at the behest of Roosevelt administration officials for the Corcoran's premier event showcasing the first examples of New Deal art patronage, the sexually explicit painting was overtly censored. Secretary of the Navy Swanson stated the [painting] "represents a most disgraceful, sordid, disreputable, drunken brawl.." [Time, April, 30, 1934]. Cadmus defended himself: "I owe the start of my career to the Admiral who tried to suppress it. I didn't feel any moral indignation about those sailors, even though it woundn't be my idea of a good time. I always enjoyed watching them when I was young. I somewhat envied the freedom of their lives and their lack of inhibitions."
"This, then, is my viewpoint – a satirical viewpoint: and I think I'm correct in saying that genuine satire has always been considered supremely moral," Cadmus wrote in his "Credo", a broadside for his first exhibition at Midtown Gallery in 1937. In the tradition of Hogarth, Rowlandson and Daumier, Cadmus felt the urgency to use his artistic expression towards exposing the "replusive" and "malignant" aspects of human behavior towards a "nobler" society.
In preparing for the artist's first and only national Retrospective tour in 1981, Eliasoph sought restitution of the painting. He sought out the counsel of Karel Yasko, Counselor for Fine Arts and Historic Preservation of the General Services Administration, in Washington D.C. Since the end of the New Deal, the GSA had been given supervisory authority for federal property created by artists. Cadmus showed Eliasoph evidence that his painting – which he had last seen when he delievered it to Juliana Force at the old Whitney Museum on 8th Street in 1934 – had been confiscated and sequestered in an elite private men's social club in Washington. The Alibi Club on "I" street had received the painting from FDR's cousin, Henry Latrobe Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and a club member. The second 'Battle of the Corcoran' ensued when Eliasoph commenced a legal campaign to recover the painting aided by Yasko's threat to the club to seize it using federal marshalls. With amicable negotiations, and a public airing of this "censorship" matter in The Washington Post, the painting was legally transferred back to the U.S. Navy Historical Center in Washington, D.C. where it is now proudly displayed. It was not until the opening night of Cadmus' retrospective, at the Miami University Art Museum, in Oxford, Ohio, that Cadmus was re-united with the work he had not seen in over 47 years.
The third "Battle of the Corcoran" took place decades later when the homo-erotic photographic exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe was removed due to pressures about its funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. In a published letter to The New York Times, [Nov. 26, 1989] Eliasoph reminded readers of "The Other Time Censorship Stormed Into the Corcoran Gallery," noting: "while members of the curatorial staff..might be too young to remember the history of their predecessors, an earlier storm of controversy forced the censorship and removal of an offending artwork from the very same institution 55 years ago...As in most cases of artistic censorship, Mr. Cadmus' work seems mildly tame and lighthearted compared with today's notions of sexuality as seen in magazine ads and music videos."
He worked in commercial illustration as well, but Jared French
, another tempera
artist who befriended him and became his lover for a time, convinced him to devote himself completely to fine art.
Jon Andersson, who became Cadmus's longtime companion of 35 years, was a subject of many of his works.
In 1999 he died in his home in Weston, Connecticut
due to advanced age, just five days short of his 95th birthday.
Cadmus's sister, Fidelma, was the wife of philanthropist and arts patron Lincoln Kirstein
.
Cadmus is ranked by Artists Trade Union of Russia
amongst the world-best artists of the last four centuries.
Magic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...
. He painted with egg tempera
Tempera
Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium . Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist...
.
Career and life
In 1934 he painted The Fleet's In! while working for the Public Works of Art ProjectPublic Works of Art Project
The Public Works of Art Project was a program to employ artists, as part of the New Deal, during the Great Depression. It was the first such program, running from December 1933 to June 1934...
of the WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
. This painting, featuring carousing sailors, women, and a homosexual couple, was the subject of a public outcry and was removed from exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, DC. The museum's main focus is American art. The permanent collection includes works by Rembrandt, Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Thomas Gainsborough, John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Pablo...
. The publicity helped to launch his career. "The Battle of the Corcoran" was a critical turning point in the career of the young, 29 year-old Greenwich Village artist who was suddenly thrust into national prominence. Involving elements of overt censorship, it was brought back into the limelight decades later.
As a young scholar, Philip Eliasoph was given unprecedented access to work with Cadmus to record for posterity the biographical details of his career. Completing 'Paul Cadmus:Life & Work' [SUNY at Binghamton, 1979] Eliasoph realized there was a missing piece as Cadmus' notorious sailor painting was created for the first New Deal art project, the P.W.A.P. and rightfully belonged in the public domain as Federal property. 'The Fleet's In!' had been seized by Navy admirals at the behest of Roosevelt administration officials for the Corcoran's premier event showcasing the first examples of New Deal art patronage, the sexually explicit painting was overtly censored. Secretary of the Navy Swanson stated the [painting] "represents a most disgraceful, sordid, disreputable, drunken brawl.." [Time, April, 30, 1934]. Cadmus defended himself: "I owe the start of my career to the Admiral who tried to suppress it. I didn't feel any moral indignation about those sailors, even though it woundn't be my idea of a good time. I always enjoyed watching them when I was young. I somewhat envied the freedom of their lives and their lack of inhibitions."
"This, then, is my viewpoint – a satirical viewpoint: and I think I'm correct in saying that genuine satire has always been considered supremely moral," Cadmus wrote in his "Credo", a broadside for his first exhibition at Midtown Gallery in 1937. In the tradition of Hogarth, Rowlandson and Daumier, Cadmus felt the urgency to use his artistic expression towards exposing the "replusive" and "malignant" aspects of human behavior towards a "nobler" society.
In preparing for the artist's first and only national Retrospective tour in 1981, Eliasoph sought restitution of the painting. He sought out the counsel of Karel Yasko, Counselor for Fine Arts and Historic Preservation of the General Services Administration, in Washington D.C. Since the end of the New Deal, the GSA had been given supervisory authority for federal property created by artists. Cadmus showed Eliasoph evidence that his painting – which he had last seen when he delievered it to Juliana Force at the old Whitney Museum on 8th Street in 1934 – had been confiscated and sequestered in an elite private men's social club in Washington. The Alibi Club on "I" street had received the painting from FDR's cousin, Henry Latrobe Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and a club member. The second 'Battle of the Corcoran' ensued when Eliasoph commenced a legal campaign to recover the painting aided by Yasko's threat to the club to seize it using federal marshalls. With amicable negotiations, and a public airing of this "censorship" matter in The Washington Post, the painting was legally transferred back to the U.S. Navy Historical Center in Washington, D.C. where it is now proudly displayed. It was not until the opening night of Cadmus' retrospective, at the Miami University Art Museum, in Oxford, Ohio, that Cadmus was re-united with the work he had not seen in over 47 years.
The third "Battle of the Corcoran" took place decades later when the homo-erotic photographic exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe was removed due to pressures about its funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. In a published letter to The New York Times, [Nov. 26, 1989] Eliasoph reminded readers of "The Other Time Censorship Stormed Into the Corcoran Gallery," noting: "while members of the curatorial staff..might be too young to remember the history of their predecessors, an earlier storm of controversy forced the censorship and removal of an offending artwork from the very same institution 55 years ago...As in most cases of artistic censorship, Mr. Cadmus' work seems mildly tame and lighthearted compared with today's notions of sexuality as seen in magazine ads and music videos."
He worked in commercial illustration as well, but Jared French
Jared French
Jared French was a painter who specialized in the ancient medium of egg tempera. He was one of the masters of magic realism, part of a circle of friends and colleagues who all painted surreal imagery in egg tempera. Others included George Tooker and Paul Cadmus.French received a Bachelor of Arts...
, another tempera
Tempera
Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium . Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist...
artist who befriended him and became his lover for a time, convinced him to devote himself completely to fine art.
Jon Andersson, who became Cadmus's longtime companion of 35 years, was a subject of many of his works.
In 1999 he died in his home in Weston, Connecticut
Weston, Connecticut
Weston is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The population was 10,179 at the 2010 census. The town is served by Route 57 and Route 53, both of which run through the town center. About 19% of the town's workforce commutes to New York City, about to the southwest.Like many towns in...
due to advanced age, just five days short of his 95th birthday.
Cadmus's sister, Fidelma, was the wife of philanthropist and arts patron Lincoln Kirstein
Lincoln Kirstein
Lincoln Edward Kirstein was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, and cultural figure in New York City...
.
Cadmus is ranked by Artists Trade Union of Russia
Artists Trade Union of Russia
Artists Trade Union of Russia is an All-Russian trade union of artists , art historians, museum and gallery workers etc.- About :...
amongst the world-best artists of the last four centuries.
Education
- National Academy of Design, 1926
- Art Students League of New YorkArt Students League of New YorkThe Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
, 1928 - Travels through Europe, 1931–1933
List of works
- Jerry, 1931, Toledo Museum of ArtToledo Museum of ArtThe Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio, United States. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey in 1901, and moved to its present location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B....
, Toledo, Ohio - The Fleet's In!, 1933, Navy Art Gallery, Washington Navy Yard
- YMCA Locker Room, 1933
- Shore Leave, 1933
- Greenwich Village Cafeteria, 1934
- Coney Island (oil painting), 1934, Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of ArtThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
- Coney Island (etching), 1935, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Aspects of Suburban Life: Main Street, 1935, D.C. Moore Gallery
- Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf, 1936, Virtual Museum of CanadaVirtual Museum of CanadaThe Virtual Museum of Canada is Canada's national virtual museum. With a directory of over 3,000 Canadian heritage institutions and a database of over 600 virtual exhibits, the VMC brings together Canada's museums regardless of size or geographical location.The VMC includes virtual exhibits,...
- Sailors and Floozies, 1938, Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York City - Pocahontas and John Smith, 1938, Port Washington Post Office
- Two Boys on a Beach #1, 1938, D.C. Moore Gallery
- Bathers, 1939
- Herrin Massacre, 1940, Columbus Museum of ArtColumbus Museum of ArtThe Columbus Museum of Art is an art museum located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio.-Building:...
, Columbus, Ohio - Aviator, 1941
- The Shower, 1943
- Point O' View, 1945, Williams College Museum of ArtWilliams College Museum of ArtThe Williams College Museum of Art is a teaching museum located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is a department of Williams College. The museum's mission is to "advance learning through lively and innovative approaches to art for the students of Williams College and communities beyond the...
, Williamstown, Massachusetts - The Seven Deadly Sins, 1945–1949
- What I Believe, 1947–1948, McNay Art MuseumMcNay Art MuseumThe McNay Art Museum, founded in 1950 in San Antonio, is the first modern art museum in the State of Texas. The museum was created by Marion Koogler McNay's original bequest of most of her fortune, her important art collection and her 24-room Spanish Colonial Revival-style mansion that sits on ...
, San Antonio, Texas - Playground, 1948, Georgia Museum of ArtGeorgia Museum of ArtThe Georgia Museum of Art is an art museum in Athens, Georgia, associated with the University of Georgia.The museum is also, since 1982, the official state museum of art. Located on the East Campus of UGA, in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex, it opened in 1948...
, Athens, Georgia - The Bath, 1951
- Manikins, 1951
- Bar Italia, 1953–55
- Night in Bologna, 1958, Smithsonian American Art MuseumSmithsonian American Art MuseumThe Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, Washington, DC - Sunday Sun, 1958–1959
- Le Ruban Dénoué: Hommage à Reynaldo Hahn, 1963, Columbus Museum of ArtColumbus Museum of ArtThe Columbus Museum of Art is an art museum located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio.-Building:...
(Philip J. & Suzanne Schiller collection), Columbus, Ohio - Male Nude, 1966, Kemper Museum of Contemporary ArtKemper Museum of Contemporary ArtThe Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. The core of the museum's permanent collection is the Bebe and R. Crosby Kemper Jr. Collection, a gift of the museum's founders. The collection includes works created after the 1913 Armory Show to works by present-day...
, Missouri - The Haircut, 1986
- Final Study for the House that Jack Built, 1987, D.C. Moore Gallery
- Me: 1940–1990, 1990, D.C. Moore Gallery
- Jon Reading NM248, 1992, D.C. Moore Gallery
- Jon Extracting a Splinter NM255, 1993, D.C. Moore Gallery
Biographical Works
- Eliasoph, Philip, 'Paul Cadmus and the Virtue of Anachronism,' 'Drawing' -The International Review published by the Drawing Society, Jan–Feb. 1981, pp. 97–104.
- Eliasoph, Philip, 'Paul Cadmus: Life & Work', doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1979, [authorized biography written with the artist's first-hand data, suggestions, overview;]
- Eliasoph, Philip, 'Paul Cadmus: Yesterday & Today,' Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, with an introduction by Lloyd Goodrich, [first and only retrospective catalogue, followed by national tour to four regional art museums;]
- Eliasoph, Philip, 'Paul Cadmus at Ninety: The Virtues of Depicting Sin,' American Arts Quarterly, 1995, pp. 39–55;
- Eliasoph, Philip 'A Tribute to Paul Cadmus: Posthumous Appreciation', American Art Journal-Smithsonian Institution, Fall, 2000, Vol 14.No. 3.
- Eliasoph, Philip 'Paul Cadmus: Reflections,' catalogue essay for Christie's American Art sale, "Important Americian Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture," May 24, 2007, pp. 199–206.
- Sutherland, David. Paul Cadmus, Enfant Terrible at 80. Documentary film, 1984. Philip Eliasoph, Associate Producer, created with funding and support of Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut.
- Kirstein, Lincoln. Paul Cadmus,(Imago Imprint: Arnold SkolnickArnold SkolnickArnold H. Skolnick is an American graphic artist, book publisher, movie assistant also the creator of the original 1969 Woodstock poster.- Early life :...
) 1984. - The Drawings of Paul Cadmus. (Introduction by Guy DavenportGuy DavenportGuy Mattison Davenport was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher.-Life:...
). - Spring, Justin. Paul Cadmus: The Male Nude (New York: Universe, 2002)
Exhibitions
- Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC, 1935
- Midtown Galleries, New York, 1937
- Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 1942
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1996
- D.C. Moore Gallery, New York, 1996
External links
- Oral history interview with Paul Cadmus, 1988 Mar. 22 – May 5 from the Smithsonian Archives of American ArtArchives of American ArtThe Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 16 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washington, D.C...
- Paul Cadmus letters to Webster Aitken, 1945–1979 also from the Archives of American Art
- Art and Social Issues Paul Cadmus' Herrin Massacre as commentary of a 1925 labor dispute in Herrin, Illinois. Also includes links to artist biography and teacher resources.
- Paul Cadmus at MuseumSyndicate.com