Paul Cadmus

1904–1999

Paul Cadmus gained notoriety in 1934 when Navy officials decried his canvas The Fleet’s In!, the second in a trilogy of works he made depicting drunken sailors on leave carousing with prostitutes or other men. Sailors and Floosies, the third painting in the series, highlights Cadmus’s comic sensibility, his frank depiction of sexuality (which often included homoerotic undertones), and his talent for recording modern life with the technical virtuosity of the Italian Renaissance masters. At the composition’s center a disarmingly brawny “floosie” is poised over a recumbent sailor, her harsh countenance contrasting with his angelic beauty in an extreme juxtaposition of satire and classicism. Inspired by anatomical studies of the Renaissance, and also drawing on techniques from the Old Masters, Cadmus sculpted the figures’ musculature and rendered it visible through their tightly fitted clothing. Like many of his contemporaries, he used the ancient medium of tempera, a fast-drying combination of egg yolk, pigment, and water that facilitated his graphic style.

Despite these historical influences, Sailors and Floosies is firmly situated in modern America. The bawdy scene unfolds in front of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in New York’s Riverside Park, with the graffiti covering the monument extending onto Cadmus’s handmade frame. In the left foreground, a cast-off newspaper reports the death toll of a recent air raid in Europe—a reminder of the anxieties that pervaded the late 1930s. Sailors and Floosies caused a stir, leading to the painting’s temporary removal from the 1940 World’s Fair in San Francisco.

Wikipedia entry

Introduction

Paul Cadmus (December 17, 1904 – December 12, 1999) was an American artist widely known for his egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male figures. His paintings combine elements of eroticism and social critique in a style often called magic realism.

Wikidata identifier

Q519534

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 15, 2025.

Getty record

Introduction

American painter and printmaker known for his mid-20th century figurative paintings in egg tempera.

Country of birth

United States

Roles

Artist, painter

ULAN identifier

500009073

Names

Paul Cadmus

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 15, 2025.

Not on view

First acquired
1934

Date of birth
December 17, 1904

API
artists/210