Paul Cadmus

Paul Cadmus 1904-99, American painter, b. N.Y.C.; studied National Academy of Design (1919-26), Art Students' League (1928). From 1933-35 he and painter Jared French traveled to Europe, where he learned the egg-tempera technique later used in many of his paintings. A figurative artist, he painted in a vivid style sometimes dubbed magic realism. Cadmus first came to wide public attention when his painting The Fleet's In (1934), an illustrationlike frieze of lubricious sailors flirting with prostitutes and a gay man, was removed from a Corcoran Gallery exhibition by a U.S. Navy admiral who found the work "depraved." Thereafter, crowds flocked to his exhibitions. Cadmus became known for lively group scenes, often sexually-charged or homoerotic, and for tranquil portraits, often of male nudes. Among his best-known works are Coney Island (1934), Sailors and Floosies (1938), and the Seven Deadly Sins series (1945-49). Cadmus also designed sets and costumes for the ballet Filling Station (1938), directed by his brother-in-law, Lincoln Kirstein , and was known for his drawings, prints, and photographs.

Bibliography: See U. E. Johnson, Paul Cadmus: Prints and Drawings (1968); P. Eliasoph, Paul Cadmus, Yesterday and Today (1981); L. Kirstein, Paul Cadmus (1984, rev. 1992, rep. 1996); G. Davenport, The Drawings of Paul Cadmus (1989); D. Leddick, Intimate Companions: A Triography of George Platt Lynes, Paul Cadmus, Lincoln Kirstein, and Their Circle (2000).

Cadmus, Paul (1904–99). American painter and draughtsman. He painted with an extremely meticulous technique, usually in egg tempera, and often used the poses and compositional techniques of the Old Masters. However, his subjects were taken from modern American life, on which he commented pungently and satirically. This sometimes led to scandal, as with the work that established his reputation, The Fleet's In! (1934, Naval Historical Center, Washington), 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 party of streetwalkers and denizens of the red-light district’. Because Cadmus worked very slowly his output as a painter was small, but he was a comparatively prolific draughtsman: ‘drawings are more saleable than paintings’, he wrote; ‘they're less expensive.’

Cadmus, Paul (b New York, 17 Dec. 1904; d Weston, Conn., 12 Dec. 1999). American painter and draughtsman. He painted with an extremely meticulous technique, usually in egg tempera, and often used the poses and compositional techniques of the Old Masters. However, his subjects were taken from modern American life, on which he commented pungently and satirically. This sometimes led to scandal, as with the work that established his reputation, The Fleet's In! (1934, Naval Historical Center, Washington), 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 party of streetwalkers and denizens of the red-light district’. Because Cadmus worked very slowly his output as a painter was small, but he was a comparatively prolific draughtsman: ‘drawings are more saleable than paintings’, he wrote, ‘they're less expensive.’