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PAUL CADMUS: PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT

“I believe in exaggeration.
People’s noses should be rubbed in all sorts of things – pleasant and unpleasant.”
-Paul Cadmus

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

"Jonathan (Portrait of Jonathan Tichenor)", 1942
Pencil on paper
12 x 9 inches (31 x 23 cm)
CADZ 82

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

"Study for 'Male Nude NM32'", 1967
Crayon on paper
15 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches
39.5 x 32 cm
CADZ 40

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Organized in collaboration with Graham Steele, Michael Werner Gallery is pleased to present Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant at our East Hampton gallery.  With over 60 works on view created over the span of 60 years, the exhibition presents a timely exploration of a career devoted to a balance between traditional techniques of representation and a radical assault on the heteronormativity of the pre-War New York society.

Cadmus (b. 1904 in New York, d. 1999 in Weston, CT) was an accomplished painter who became infamous for his controversial, gritty, urban scenes that pushed the boundaries of acceptability in both subject matter and style.  While he worked slowly in the meticulous Old Master technique of egg tempera painting, producing only two to three paintings a year, his subjects ranged from drunken soldiers to prostitutes to raucous locker rooms-- the most contentious of which were done with the support of the WPA.  Alongside his painting, Cadmus was a prolific master draftsman in the tradition of the French School (his father from whom he inherited his talent was a student of Robert Henri). The vast majority of his drawings depict the male nude and balanced the dual needs of income from a wealthy Queer collector base as well as allowing him to explore, without constraint, his life-long love affair with the male form. His poses, gestures and expressions helped to create a Queer visual language used by a generation of artists who celebrate and revel in this culture.

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

Paul Cadmus and Jared French, Photo by George Platt Lynes, © The Estate of George Platt Lynes.

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Grid View Thumbnails
Paul Cadmus, Study for ‘Male Nude #NM5', circa 1965

“Study for ‘Male Nude #NM5’”, ca. 1965
Graphite, crayon on paper
10 1/2 x 14 inches
26.5 x 35.5 cm
CADZ 7

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Paul Cadmus, Chiquita #2, circa 1932-1933

"Chiquita #2", ca. 1932-1933
Pencil on paper
11 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches
30 x 22 cm
CADZ 80

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Paul Cadmus, Study of Bathers in the Stream, circa 1978

“Study of Bathers in the Stream”, ca. 1978
Chalk, crayon on paper
17 x 11 1/4 inches
43.5 x 28.5 cm
CADZ 79

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Paul Cadmus, Reclining Nude, circa 1933

“Reclining Nude”, ca. 1933
Ink on paper
8 x 10 inches
20.5 x 25.5 cm
CADZ 3

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Paul Cadmus, Untitled (Reclining female nude), circa 1970-1979

“Untitled (Reclining female nude)”, ca. 1970-1979
Chalk on paper
11 1/4 x 14 1/4 inches
28.5 x 36 cm
CADZ 5

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Paul Cadmus, Seated Nude Dancer, circa 1970-1979

“Seated Nude Dancer”, ca. 1970-1979
Chalk on paper
13 x 9 1/2 inches
33 x 24 cm
CADZ 4

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Paul Cadmus, Study for ‘Male Nude #NM5', circa 1965

“Study for ‘Male Nude #NM5’”, ca. 1965
Graphite, crayon on paper
10 1/2 x 14 inches
26.5 x 35.5 cm
CADZ 7

Paul Cadmus, Chiquita #2, circa 1932-1933

"Chiquita #2", ca. 1932-1933
Pencil on paper
11 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches
30 x 22 cm
CADZ 80

Paul Cadmus, Study of Bathers in the Stream, circa 1978

“Study of Bathers in the Stream”, ca. 1978
Chalk, crayon on paper
17 x 11 1/4 inches
43.5 x 28.5 cm
CADZ 79

Paul Cadmus, Reclining Nude, circa 1933

“Reclining Nude”, ca. 1933
Ink on paper
8 x 10 inches
20.5 x 25.5 cm
CADZ 3

Paul Cadmus, Untitled (Reclining female nude), circa 1970-1979

“Untitled (Reclining female nude)”, ca. 1970-1979
Chalk on paper
11 1/4 x 14 1/4 inches
28.5 x 36 cm
CADZ 5

Paul Cadmus, Seated Nude Dancer, circa 1970-1979

“Seated Nude Dancer”, ca. 1970-1979
Chalk on paper
13 x 9 1/2 inches
33 x 24 cm
CADZ 4

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

"What I Believe", 1947-1948. Tempera on panel. The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio. Gift of Robert L.B. Tobin.

Jonathan Katz, co-curator of the exhibition “Hide/Seek” at the National Portrait Gallery in 2010, explored these themes in a discussion about Cadmus’s work, in particular the painting “What I Believe” from 1947-1948.

“What's striking is that it's a picture in which gay and straight are literally cleaved into. Its title comes from an earlier work, a work of literature by Cadmus's friend E.M. Forster, the great closeted novelist [and author] of one of the earliest British gay novels, Maurice. In “What I Believe,” Forster wrote an essay smelling the winds of war. He begins by saying that if there's to be survival of Western culture in the coming conflagration, it's going to be because, as he puts it ‘an aristocratic ‘Community of the Sensitive’ will keep culture alive.’ And then he goes on to say, ‘how do you know the sensitive?’ And he says, oh, well ‘they know each other. They catch each other's eyes in the street.’ And the more he talks about this elite of the sensitive, the more the clued-in reader comes to understand that he's talking in coded terms about homosexuals. That was in 1938. 

In 1948, Cadmus makes this picture using the 1938 title. “What I Believe” is of course, after the second World War, after the largest loss of life humanity has ever known. And there, what Cadmus gives us is a divided world. On one side of the canvas, the left side of the canvas, you see a kind of homosexual Arcadia: images of arts, painting, literature, music, architecture in a beautiful peaceful world. You see actual portraits: there's E.M. Forester wearing a banner… Paul Cadmus, the artist himself, next to him his partner, Jared French, behind them Margaret French.… But what is central about this work is, that the other side of the image, the straight side is one of death and destruction. You notice that even the ground sustains no life: Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini stand at the top reigning destruction down…. What Cadmus is trying to suggest is that Western culture can only survive in the hands of the Elite of the Sensitive. And so he divides these two worlds, gay from straight. A phallic lighthouse of Alexandria in the middle, and the clouds making a question mark, as if to ask, ‘will culture continue?’

While several of the works on view at Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton are studies for paintings, they are undoubtedly works of art in their own right.  In technique and subject, Cadmus’s drawings connect him with a long line of Old Master painters, like Signorelli, Mantegna and Michelangelo, who portrayed the beauty of the muscular male body, and the artist’s surface treatments, stains, washes and color choices demonstrate the delight in the materiality of drawing itself.

Grid View 2

Grid View 2 Thumbnails
Paul Cadmus, Untitled Reclining Nude, 1997

“Untitled Reclining Nude”, 1997
Crayon, acrylic gesso on board
9 3/4 x 13 inches
25 x 33 cm
CADZ 49

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Paul Cadmus, Reclining Male Nude, 1985

“Reclining Male Nude”, 1985
Crayon, acrylic gesso on board
12 x 11 1/2 inches
30.5 x 29 cm
CADZ 45

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Paul Cadmus, NMX 1, circa 1980-1989

“NMX 1”, ca. 1980-1989
Crayon on paper
11 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches
29 x 35 cm
CADZ 34

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Paul Cadmus, Study for 'David and Goliath', circa 1971

"Study for 'David and Goliath'", ca. 1971
Crayon on paper
16 x 19 inches
40.5 x 48.5 cm
CADZ 13

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Paul Cadmus, Study for 'David and Goliath', circa 1971

"Study for 'David and Goliath'", ca. 1971
Crayon on paper
12 3/4 x 16 inches
32.5 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 10

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Paul Cadmus, Study for 'David and Goliath', circa 1964

"Study for 'David and Goliath'", ca. 1964
Crayon on paper
12 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches
32.5 x 24 cm
CADZ 20

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Paul Cadmus, Untitled Reclining Nude, 1997

“Untitled Reclining Nude”, 1997
Crayon, acrylic gesso on board
9 3/4 x 13 inches
25 x 33 cm
CADZ 49

Paul Cadmus, Reclining Male Nude, 1985

“Reclining Male Nude”, 1985
Crayon, acrylic gesso on board
12 x 11 1/2 inches
30.5 x 29 cm
CADZ 45

Paul Cadmus, NMX 1, circa 1980-1989

“NMX 1”, ca. 1980-1989
Crayon on paper
11 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches
29 x 35 cm
CADZ 34

Paul Cadmus, Study for 'David and Goliath', circa 1971

"Study for 'David and Goliath'", ca. 1971
Crayon on paper
16 x 19 inches
40.5 x 48.5 cm
CADZ 13

Paul Cadmus, Study for 'David and Goliath', circa 1971

"Study for 'David and Goliath'", ca. 1971
Crayon on paper
12 3/4 x 16 inches
32.5 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 10

Paul Cadmus, Study for 'David and Goliath', circa 1964

"Study for 'David and Goliath'", ca. 1964
Crayon on paper
12 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches
32.5 x 24 cm
CADZ 20

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

"Study for a David and Goliath", 1971
Acrylic on canvas, 49 x 53 inches. Private Collection.

"I specialize in male nudes. I’ve done many more males than females. I like to do females too, but they’re sort of hard to come by in a way. And they don’t generally pose as well as men. They have a tendency to faint. I think – and I don’t know whether this is just my own idea – that men are vainer than women in that they work harder at their posing. Maybe women think that they’re so lovely that they don’t have to pose well, I’m not sure.

I don’t know if your feelings are at all erotic towards the model whether that would make a better drawing or not. It might make it worse, I’m not sure. I supposed either way, the cooler you are maybe the better you draw. I’ve been drawing Jon [Anderson] for seventeen years.

I mark everything so that the models can get back into the exact position, because, ideally, they should pose like apples or pears, except that they don’t rot – at least not as quickly."

-Paul Cadmus

Perhaps most seductive to the historically-oriented viewer, these drawings create, in their multiplicity, a portrait of the artist himself. From his relationship with Jared French and George Platt Lynes to his depictions of famous friends and gay-friendly locations from Fire Island to Mallorca, to 40 years of loving examinations of his last lover Jon Anderson, these works on paper build a map of a complete life lived out on and in paper.

Cadmus’s work can be found in the permanent collections of museums across the United States, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Detroit Institute of Arts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Morgan Library, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of Art, New York; among many others.

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

“Self-Portrait”, 1965. Crayon on paper. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

“However forward these works are—and they were, extremely—the art is still rather arrière-garde. This is not what art in ‘Western Civilization’, which has always been a naff, stupid concept, is supposed to be doing. There should be robots or the machine aesthetic or Leger, and if they’re going to be figures they should be very presciently parodic and hedonistic like in Picabia or Dali or those other off-brand surrealists. But they’re not. Instead, they’re aspiring to a classical mode of figure drawing, a received lexicon of gesture and pose that might incorporate Degas’ ballerinas. Yes, these daring iconoclasts were all into the ballet, which is another way of saying: they were different within being really conventional.

  

What I mean is that this is not the modern realist painting of Edward Hopper…. These drawings are looking to the past and trying to dignify forms or attitudes toward form with the visual majesty and almost corpulent replete-ness of the past, of the Renaissance, of the Baroque, of the 18th century.”
-David Rimanelli, art critic

Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant - Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

Paul Cadmus, Jared French, George Tooker. Photo by George Platt Lynes, © The Estate of George Platt Lynes.

Grid View 3

Grid View 3 Thumbnails
Paul Cadmus, Male Torso (Studies of a Hand), circa 1980-1989

“Male Torso (Studies of a Hand)”, ca. 1980-1989
Crayon on paper
10 1/4 x 13 inches
26 x 33 cm
CADZ 69

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Paul Cadmus, Two Studies of a Resting Hand, circa 1940-1949

"Two Studies of a Resting Hand", ca. 1940-1949
Crayon on paper
12 x 9 inches
30.5 x 23 cm
CADZ 78

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Paul Cadmus, Untitled Nude Studies, circa 1930-1939

"Untitled Nude Studies", ca. 1930-1939
Pencil on paper
10 1/2 x 16 inches
26.5 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 24

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Paul Cadmus, Study of Hands, circa 1971

“Study of Hands”, ca. 1971
Crayon on paper
19 1/4 x 16 inches
49 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 44

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Paul Cadmus, Preparatory drawing for the 1977 painting, ‘Winter’, 1977

“Preparatory drawing for the 1977 painting, ‘Winter’” 1977
Pencil on paper
8 x 16 1/2 inches
20.5 x 42 cm
CADZ 83

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Paul Cadmus, Study for ‘Spring: Spring Cleaning’, circa 1980

“Study for ‘Spring: Spring Cleaning’”, ca. 1980
Crayon on paper
8 1/4 x 16 inches
21 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 66

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Paul Cadmus, Untitled Study (Muscle Man), circa 1937

"Untitled Study (Muscle Man)", ca. 1937
Pencil on paper
17 x 11 1/4 inches
43 x 28.5 cm
CADZ 22

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Paul Cadmus, Untitled Study (Muscle Man), circa 1937

“Untitled Study (Muscle Man)”, ca. 1937
Pencil on paper
17 x 13 inches
43 x 33 cm
CADZ 21

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Paul Cadmus, Standing Male Nude, circa 1978

“Standing Male Nude”, ca. 1978
Crayon on paper
19 x 12 1/2 inches
48.5 x 32 cm
CADZ 58

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Paul Cadmus, Male Torso (Studies of a Hand), circa 1980-1989

“Male Torso (Studies of a Hand)”, ca. 1980-1989
Crayon on paper
10 1/4 x 13 inches
26 x 33 cm
CADZ 69

Paul Cadmus, Two Studies of a Resting Hand, circa 1940-1949

"Two Studies of a Resting Hand", ca. 1940-1949
Crayon on paper
12 x 9 inches
30.5 x 23 cm
CADZ 78

Paul Cadmus, Untitled Nude Studies, circa 1930-1939

"Untitled Nude Studies", ca. 1930-1939
Pencil on paper
10 1/2 x 16 inches
26.5 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 24

Paul Cadmus, Study of Hands, circa 1971

“Study of Hands”, ca. 1971
Crayon on paper
19 1/4 x 16 inches
49 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 44

Paul Cadmus, Preparatory drawing for the 1977 painting, ‘Winter’, 1977

“Preparatory drawing for the 1977 painting, ‘Winter’” 1977
Pencil on paper
8 x 16 1/2 inches
20.5 x 42 cm
CADZ 83

Paul Cadmus, Study for ‘Spring: Spring Cleaning’, circa 1980

“Study for ‘Spring: Spring Cleaning’”, ca. 1980
Crayon on paper
8 1/4 x 16 inches
21 x 40.5 cm
CADZ 66

Paul Cadmus, Untitled Study (Muscle Man), circa 1937

"Untitled Study (Muscle Man)", ca. 1937
Pencil on paper
17 x 11 1/4 inches
43 x 28.5 cm
CADZ 22

Paul Cadmus, Untitled Study (Muscle Man), circa 1937

“Untitled Study (Muscle Man)”, ca. 1937
Pencil on paper
17 x 13 inches
43 x 33 cm
CADZ 21

Paul Cadmus, Standing Male Nude, circa 1978

“Standing Male Nude”, ca. 1978
Crayon on paper
19 x 12 1/2 inches
48.5 x 32 cm
CADZ 58

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Paul Cadmus: Pleasant and Unpleasant at Michael Werner Gallery, East Hampton.

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