The National Academy Museum

and School of Fine Arts

New York, New York

212/369-4880



 

Men Without Women: Paul Cadmus as Curator

On view from May 5 through August 29, 1999 at the National Academy of Design, Men Without

Women: Paul Cadmus as Curator is the fifth installment of the Artist 's Eye series. Paul Cadmus, NA, joins the distinguished group of past Artist's Eye curators Philip Pearlstein, NA, Wayne Thiebaud, NA, Jacob Lawrence, NA, and Will Barnet, NA, in organizing an exhibition drawn from the Academy's permanent collection.

Believing that the male figure, and especially the male nude, has been somewhat overlooked by artists since the Renaissance, Mr. Cadmus chose to focus his selections on depictions of men in portraits, landscapes, genre, and historical paintings, and in a variety of media.

Work on the exhibition started in 1996, when Mr. Cadmus made his first of several visits to the Academy's storage facilities. From a collection of over 2,000 paintings, 250 sculptures and 3,000 works on paper, Cadmus chose 66 works by 63 artists including William Merritt Chase, NA; Allyn Cox, NA; Kenyon Cox, NA; George Grosz, NA; Reginald Marsh, NA; Maxfield Parrish, NA; Robert Rauschenberg, NA; George Tooker, NA; Elihu Vedder, NA; Robert Vickrey NA; J.Q.A. Ward, NA; Andrew Wyeth. NA: and N.C. Wyeth, NA. Left: John Q. A. Ward (1830-1910) ANA 1862, NA 1863, PNAD 1873-74, The Freeman, 1862, bronze, 20 x 14 3/4 x 7, collection of the National Academy of Design

The theme of men alone or interacting with other men has been of special interest to Mr. Cadmus throughout his career. Known for his consummate draftsmanship as well as his narrative and allegorical paintings, Paul Cadmus has been closely associated with the Academy from his earliest student days. While enrolled at the Academy's School of Fine Arts, he studied under Charles L. Hinton and attended the classes of Charles C. Curran, NA, George W. Maynard, NA, Charles Hawthorne, NA, and Francis C. Jones, NA. He was awarded several school prizes including the Suydam Bronze Medal for life drawing. Later, he exhibited in the Academy's annuals, was elected to associate membership in 1979, and to full membership as a National Academician the following year. Mr. Cadmus credits the Academy with teaching him the values of culture and tradition, values he will share with museum audiences this spring by providing a unique insight into the artist's critical eye. Right: Andrew Wyeth, NA (b. 1917), Self-Portrait, n.d., oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches, collection of the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts

A small concurrent installation of Mr. Cadmus's own paintings drawn from other major museum collections will also be on view including Bar Italia (1953 -1955), on loan from the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC, and The Fleet 's In (1934), from the Navy Museum in Washington, DC.

Partial support for this exhibition is provided by DC Moore Gallery.

Read more about the National Academy Museum in Resource Library

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

rev. 9/20/10


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