Cadmus, Paul

Cadmus, Paul (1904–99). American painter and draughtsman. Both his father and mother were commercial artists. He studied in his native New York at the National Academy of Design, 1919–25, and the Art Students League, 1928–30, then worked for an advertising agency before travelling in Europe, 1931–3. On his return to New York in 1933 he started work for the Public Works of Art Project (see FEDERAL ART PROJECT) and in the following year was involved in the first of a series of scandals that characterized his career and established him in the public eye. It was caused by his painting The Fleets's In! (Naval Historical Center, Washington, 1934), portraying sailors on shore leave; it was described by the secretary of the navy as ‘a most disgraceful, sordid, disreputable, drunken brawl, wherein apparently a number of enlisted men are consorting with a series of streetwalkers and denizens of the red-light district', and was withdrawn from the first Public Works of Art exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington. In its brutal satire and frankness in portraying carnal desires (he was particularly good at showing sexual hunger and loneliness), the picture is typical of Cadmus's work. The other salient features of his style are his sheer gusto and his complete rejection of modernism—he often used the poses and compositional devices of the Old Masters and he painted with an extremely meticulous technique, usually in egg tempera. Because of his high polish and precision he is sometimes described as a Magic Realist. He worked slowly and his output as a painter was small. However, he was a comparatively prolific draughtsman, because—as he said—‘drawings are more saleable than paintings—they're less expensive'.