Paul Cadmus was born on December 17, 1904, in New York City. After traveling through France and
Paul Cadmus was born on December 17, 1904, in New York City. After traveling through France and Spain, he and fellow artist and lover, Jared French, settled in a fishing village on the island of Mallorca. In 1933 they returned to the United States after running out of money, and Cadmus was one of the first artists to be employed by the New Deal art programs, painting murals at post offices.In 1934 he painted ‘The Fleet’s In!’ - above - while working for the Public Works of Art Project of the WPA (Works Progress Administration). The painting, featuring carousing sailors and women, was the subject of a public outcry, and was removed from exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery. The publicity helped to launch his career.The painting depicts US sailors on rowdy and lecherous shore leave, and it aroused the anger of Navy top brass not only for its depiction of the Navy, but also its obvious sexual connotations that fed into the myth of naval life. Handsome young sailors are carousing with gaudily attired, then called ‘loose women’, with everyone in an unrestrained mood that is undoubtedly helped along by alcohol. While all of this was controversial enough, on the left a sailor is shown soliciting a light from a well dressed man wearing a red tie, considered at the time to be one of the secret dress code signals that gay men used to identify one another. The sailor’s near unconscious mate is being dragged away by his female companion, while he and the gay man look intently into each others eyes. Within that raucous, sexually charged atmosphere, they are the only ones actually paying attention to each other.Cadmus worked in commercial illustration as well, but Jared French convinced him to devote himself completely to fine art. In 1979 he was elected to the National Academy of Design as an associate member, and became a full member in 1980.Jon Andersson, Cadmus’s companion of 35 years, was a subject of many of his works. Cadmus died in 1999 in his home in Weston, Connecticut, due to advanced age, just five days shy of his 95th birthday.(Wikipedia, Peter Boots, and other sources.) -- source link