Paul Cadmus (American, 1904-1999). Self Portrait with Model Jon, 1972. Crayon on board. 26 x 22 inches (66.0 x 55.9 cm)...

Description

Paul Cadmus (American, 1904-1999)
Self Portrait with Model Jon, 1972
Crayon on board
26 x 22 inches (66.0 x 55.9 cm)
Signed upper left: Cadmus

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Estate of the above;
[with]DC Moore Gallery, New York;
Doyle, New York, May 10, 2016, lot 85;
[with]Spanierman Gallery, LLC, New York;
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

EXHIBITED:
DC Moore Gallery, New York, "Independent Visions: American Drawings & Watercolors," April 14-May 14, 2013.

The present work is a study for Paul Cadmus' seminal egg tempera masterwork 'Artist and Model,' of 1973. It depicts the artist and one of his favorite models and lifelong muses-Jon Anderson, who was lovingly referred to by Cadmus as 'Nantucket man."

"In the 1984 documentary 'Paul Cadmus: Enfant Terrible at 80,' Paul Cadmus joked that the modeling job he had offered Jon Anderson was actually just an excuse to meet the handsome cabaret star. But even if it was physical attraction that first drew Cadmus to Anderson during a trip to Nantucket, Mass., in 1965, it was their love, friendship and collaboration -- Cadmus the artist, and Anderson, his muse -- that bound them. 'As a muse, I brought something to the situation that worked,' said Anderson... 'I instilled in Paul an excitement to work.'

"For Cadmus, it was love. But it didn't hurt that he had found the ideal male model. In the 35 years that Cadmus and Anderson were lovers, the two men experimented with a variety of complex poses, some of which were suggested by Anderson, that became the blueprint for Cadmus' narrative compositions.

"Their relationship was a fruitful one. As Philip Eliasoph, professor of Art History at Fairfield University and curator of Cadmus' only national touring retrospective, noted, 'Cadmus and life model Anderson almost single-handedly resurrected figurative art.'

"'(Cadmus) choreographed the graceful movements of Anderson in the same way that George Balanchine directed his male ballet dancers,' he said." (www.ctpost.com/entertainment/article/Paul-Cadmus-and-Jon-Anderson-the-focus-of-Muse)




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