20 Facts About Paul Cadmus

Paul Cadmus was an American artist widely known for his egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings.

Paul Cadmus produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male figures.

Paul Cadmus's paintings combine elements of eroticism and social critique in a style often called magic realism.

At age 15, Paul Cadmus left school to attend the National Academy of Design for 6 years.

In 1925, at age 20, Paul Cadmus became a member of The Brooklyn Society of Etchers.

Paul Cadmus enrolled at the Art Students League of New York in 1928 taking life-drawing lessons while working as a commercial illustrator at a New York advertising agency.

Paul Cadmus furthered his education while traveling through Europe from 1931 to 1933 with fellow artist Jared French, who became his lover for a time.

In 1933, they headed back to the United States after running out of money, where Paul Cadmus was one of the first artists to be employed by The New Deal art programs, painting murals at post offices.

Paul Cadmus worked in commercial illustration as well, but French, a tempera artist, convinced him to devote himself completely to fine art.

Paul Cadmus is ranked by Artists Trade Union of Russia amongst the world's best artists of the last four centuries.

Paul Cadmus used his then lover, Jared French, as the model for John Smith in the mural.

Paul Cadmus combined the elements of Signorelli and Mantegna along with Marsh to depict the street life of New York City.

Paul Cadmus was transfixed by the human body, both the ideal and the repulsive.

Paul Cadmus's ideal was a stylized erotic version of the male body.

Paul Cadmus found the grotesque everywhere from Greenwich Village cafes, subway stations, the beach at Coney Island to American tourists in an Italian piazza.

Paul Cadmus's art is a form of satire and caricature of his subjects that has been compared to fellow artists George Grosz and Otto Dix.

In 1965, Paul Cadmus met and began a relationship with Jon Anderson,.

The relationship with Anderson, a former Nantucket cabaret singer 32 years younger than Paul Cadmus, lasted until Paul Cadmus' death in 1999.

Forster, who was said to have read his novel Maurice aloud while Paul Cadmus painted his portrait, which was printed in 1200 copies of a pamphlet The New Disorder in 1949.

From 1931 until 1992, Paul Cadmus produced 120 paintings, two a year on average.