This one’s a two-parter—and honestly, it has to be. Paul Cadmus’s work is just too broad, too influential, and too important to squeeze into a single post. We owe him a lot—especially when it comes to putting male beauty and same-sex desire, both romantic and erotic, out into the open.
Paul Cadmus (1904–1999) lived on both sides of the camera and the canvas. Known for his stylized, often provocative male figures, he blurred the line between observation and desire—drawing and painting bodies he also photographed, studied, and lived alongside. Cadmus is right there at that turning point where the male form starts shifting from something coded… to something a little harder to ignore.
With Jared French and Margaret, it’s PaJaMa (Paul, Jared, Margaret)—passing the camera around, photographing each other and their circle, often nude, often staged. Lovers, collaborators, co-conspirators.
Their orbit included George Platt Lynes, along with artists like George Tooker and Luigi Lucioni, and extended outward through Lynes to figures like authors, Christopher Isherwood and Lincoln Kirstein, co-founder of New York City Ballet with revolutionary choreographer, George Balanchine. Different mediums, same people… all feeding each other ideas, and showing up in each other’s work in ways that make authorship a little fuzzy.
PaJaMa was an odd collaboration what with Ja and Ma married and Pa and Ja lovers.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I gathered Ma was very supportive of Ja and Pa’s romantic relationship. Pretty wild, huh?! bns
DeletePaul Cadmus was part of something amazing, and it is interesting to see how his art evolved while he was part of PaJaMa. You show that rather well here. I think the relationship(s) of those three contributed tremdously to his art, which unfortunately became sort of one-note after PaJaMa ended. After the 1950s, he drew different versions of the same basic type over and over.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Very interesting. Curious why he got stuck at the end there. I've heard the argument that all artists really only have one piece and they are just making versions of that same thing. Not sure I agree, but there's definitely evidence of many artists circling around the same themes in variation or getting stuck in a formula. I personally love his work, and appreciate his voice as distinct in his time. bns
DeleteOh, even the work I describe as one-note is quite good and immediately recognizable as his. A lot of artists would love to have that sort of reputation.
Delete💕💕💕bns
DeleteOne of my favourites. Imagine being there when all this was unfolding. All that creativity must have been magic.
ReplyDeleteAlso how they cut against the grain of society in their time, coming of age amidst Great Depression and WWII eras. Focusing on truth, love, and beauty…picking up where Weimar Republic left off. Would’ve loved to meet them all💕💕bns
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