Miscalculated Seductions

Artist Paul Cadmus died in December 1999 a few days short of his ninety-fifth birthday. His works, often depicting the seamier side of life, were social commentaries on moral depravity.

In a tribute to Paul Cadmus published in our journal American Art, author Philip Eliasoph recounts a conversation with the artist:

"I once asked Paul: 'What if you were at the retrospective and there was a fire, and you could snatch one painting to rescue from the flames?'

"He responded quickly, 'Night in Bologna is the summa of my career.' Painted in 1958, it synthesizes every element of Cadmus's allegorical, narrative-driven imagery. Powerful sexual and psychic tension locks three people in a triangle resembling Piero's Flagellation, the image he considered 'the most perfect painting in the world.' Night in Bologna depicts a farce of miscalculated seductions. An Italian soldier yearns for a curvaceous female hooker; she, in turn, tries to seduce a crewcut American tourist (Cadmus?), while he gazes back at the Italian man with envy."

Read the full "Tribute to Paul Cadmus" in the fall 2000 edition of American Art.

Source: Philip Eiasoph, "A Tribute to Paul Cadmus" American Art 14, no. 3 (fall 2000): 90-94.

Pictured: Paul Cadmus, 1904–99, Night in Bologna, 1958, egg tempera on fiberboard, 50 1/2 x 35 1/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation.