Collection - artwork available for state agency loans

Paul Cadmus was an American artist best known for his paintings and drawings of nude male figures, usually working in egg tempera. He was born in New York City to encouraging artist parents, attended the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in Manhattan, and also worked for the Public Works of Art Project of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. His works have been exhibited in multiple museums and galleries, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC), the National Academy Museum (NY), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PA), and the DC Moore Gallery (NY). Cadmus lived in Weston, CT.

Paul Cadmus used the classical technique of egg tempera to create satirical images of American life. He left school at fifteen to attend the National Academy of Design, then worked as a commercial illustrator while taking classes at the Art Students League. He met the painter Jared French and together they traveled to Europe, cycling around France and Spain and settling on the island of Mallorca. In 1933, they ran out of money and returned to the States, where Cadmus was one of the first artists to be employed by the Public Works of Art Project. His work was criticized, however, because rather than celebrate working America like many artists of the 1930s, he emphasized the sordid behavior of the “common man.” One painting of carousing sailors offended the assistant secretary of the Navy, who demanded its removal from an exhibition. This image made the young artist famous, and he later said that he owed the start of his career “to the Admiral who tried to suppress it.” Cadmus compared the delicate brushstrokes of egg tempera to “heartbeats, each equally important yet almost invisible or unnoticeable.” (Kirstein, Paul Cadmus, 1992)