Paul Cadmus (1904-1999)

Sleeping Nude

Details

Paul Cadmus (1904-1999)
Sleeping Nude
signed 'Cadmus' (lower right)--signed again and inscribed with title (on the backing)
tempera on paperboard
6 x 12 in. (15.2 x 30.5 cm.), image; 8 ¾ x 15 in. (22.2 x 38.1 cm.), board
Painted in 1967.

Provenance

Dr. Thomas A. Mathews, Washington, D.C.
Midtown Galleries, Inc., New York.
Stephen L. and Susan K. Weber, San Diego, California, 1981.
Gift to the present owner from the above, 2010.

Literature

University of Illinois, Krannert Art Museum, Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture: Fourteenth Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Urbana, Illinois, 1969, p. 98, no. 23, illustrated.
P. Eliasoph, Paul Cadmus: Yesterday and Today, exhibition catalogue, Oxford, Ohio, 1981, pp. 34, 59, 80, no. 39, illustrated.
G. Davenport, The Drawings of Paul Cadmus, New York, 1989, p. 15.
L. Kirstein, Paul Cadmus, New York, 1992, pp. 96, 137, illustrated.
R.J. Boyle, et al., Milk and Eggs: The American Revival of Tempera Painting, 1930-1950, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 2002, p. 206.
J. Spring, The Male Nude, New York, 2002, pp. 61, 66, fig. 87, illustrated.

Exhibited

Champaign, Illinois, University of Illinois, Krannert Art Museum, Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture: Fourteenth Exhibition, March 2-April 6, 1969, no. 23.
Oxford, Ohio, Miami University Art Museum, and elsewhere, Paul Cadmus: Yesterday and Today, September 12-October 25, 1981, no. 39.
Elmira, New York, Arnot Art Museum, Re-presenting Representation, August 29-November 7, 1993.
New York, Midtown Payson Galleries, Paul Cadmus: Still Life Portrait Tableaux, November 11-December 30, 1994.

Lot Essay

According to Dr. Philip Eliasoph, Paul Cadmus once told him of the present work, "My personal sentimental favorite is my small 'Sleeping Nude.'" Cadmus explained of its making, "This tiny picture was begun, from one of my drawings, as a demonstration--to a young hopeful--of the technique of egg tempera painting...I found that I liked the commencement and stimulated, and perhaps fertilized, by bedtime book-looking--in particular Ingres and his Odalisques--I decided to continue and finish it. Unlike most of my paintings, this one is mostly painted directly from life, the model as used in the drawing being available at the time, as well as my furniture." (as quoted in University of Illinois, Krannert Art Museum, Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture: Fourteenth Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Urbana, Illinois, 1969, p. 98) As an acknowledgement to his inspiration, Cadmus writes "Ingres" on the book that sits at the man's feet.

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