Paul Cadmus (1904-1999)

The House That Jack Built

Details

Paul Cadmus (1904-1999)
The House That Jack Built
signed 'Cadmus', dated '1987' and inscribed with title (on the reverse)
tempera on gessoed panel
33 x 33 in. (83.8 x 83.8 cm.)

Provenance

The artist.
Midtown Payson Galleries, Inc., Hobe Sound, Florida.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Literature

Whitney Museum of American Art, Enduring Creativity, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1988, p. 11, illustrated.
J. Spring, Paul Cadmus: The Male Nude, New York, 2002, p. 41, fig. 60, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, Midtown Galleries, Paul Cadmus, December 8, 1987-January 30, 1988.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Enduring Creativity, April 15-June 15, 1988.

Lot Essay

"Cadmus truly felt that much of what was happening in the art world of the postwar era was worthy of the term [evil], and seems to have equated the madness of the art world with the madness of the nuclear era in the painting The House That Jack Built. In Cadmus's opinion, not only had a generation of skilled artists been rejected by the new critical establishment but also, and more importantly, an entire humanist tradition in the visual arts was being discarded." (J. Spring, Paul Cadmus: The Male Nude, New York, 2002, p. 41)

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