Paul Cadmus: the Male Nude - Hardcover

Spring, Justin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0789305895 ISBN 13: 9780789305893

Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications, 2002

Synopsis

One of the most accomplished artists of the twentieth century, Paul Cadmus is best known for his provocative satires of American life. He first gained national recognition in 1934 when his bawdy painting The Fleet's In! was barred from a Public Works of Art exhibition in Washington, D.C. For more than six decades following, Cadmus led a career as a meticulous craftsman devoted to Renaissance-era traditions of figurative realism. But his drawings of the male nude, which always formed the heart of his work, were often overlooked.

Here for the first time in one volume are seventy of Cadmus's most stunning tributes to the male form. Cadmus continued to produce these works up until his death at age ninety-four, and this volume includes many drawings that have never been seen before. The artist's most frequent model was his lifelong partner Jon Anderson, and the drawings offer up not just an elegant fluency and technical virtuosity but also a tender emotional resonance. Introducing each era of the artist's career is an illustrated essay by respected critic and writer Justin Spring, placing Cadmus in the context of the rich history of the male nude.

Paul Cadmus reminds us-- poignantly, eloquently, humbly-- of the sincere beauty of the male form and of humanity itself with each masterful rendering. As Guy Davenport wrote in The Drawings of Paul Cadmus, "His drawings of male nudes are of bodies, but of achieved, perfected bodies that serve as symbols, as in ancient Greece, of a perfect unity of spirit and flesh, mind and body. For Cadmus the body is the person."

About this title

Review

"[Cadmus paints] the male body with more sensuality than any American artist of his generation-- and ours."--Richard Goldstein, "The Village Voice" "Mr. Cadmus was, at the time of his death, a senior exemplar of a vital if submerged academic realist tradition in American painting, one that has meandered in various guises from Thomas Eakins to Ivan Albright and Reginald Marsh and has resurfaced, again transformed, in the work of younger painters today."--Holland Cotter, "New York Times" "Paul Cadmus occupies a singular place in twentieth century American art, both for his satirical, unvarnished depictions of American life and his academically inspired drawings, particularly of male nudes."--Stephen May, A"rtnews"

About the Author

Justin Spring, a 2001-2002 Guggenheim Fellow, who has written many monographs and catalogues on twentieth-century art, is a frequent contributor to Artforum International and is the author, most recently, of the biography Fairfield Porter: A Life in Art, which was hailed by the New York Times as "exhaustive and intimate...a valuable addition to the intellectual histories of New York School painting and poetry."

Edition details

• Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0789305895
• ISBN 13: 9780789305893
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160