Aspects of Suburban Life: Public Dock

Paul Cadmus, Aspects of Suburban Life: Public Dock, 1936, oil and tempera on fiberboard, 31 ³⁄₈ x 52 ⁵⁄₈ in. (79.7 x 133.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of State, 1978.76.2

Artwork Details

Title: Aspects of Suburban Life: Public Dock
Artist: Paul Cadmus
Date: 1936
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 31 ³⁄₈ x 52 ⁵⁄₈ in. (79.7 x 133.7 cm.)
Credit Line: Transfer from the U.S. Department of State
Mediums: tempera
oil
Mediums Description: oil and tempera on fiberboard
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Recreation — sport and play — boating
Animal — fish — eel
New Deal — Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project — New York City
Figure group — male and female
Recreation — sport and play — swimming
Recreation — sport and play — fishing
Cityscape — wharf
Object Number: 1978.76.2
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1978.76.2

Artwork Description

Public Dock depicts a group of vacationers recoiling from an electric eel that a hapless fisherman has caught. Paul Cadmus conveyed the boisterous atmosphere of an afternoon at the beach: the crush of bodies, the flap of flags on yardarms, the roar of a biplane overhead. A blowsy woman with bottle-blond hair and vivid make-up topples backward with a small child, and a bathing beauty at the lower right realizes what she is swimming with. Cadmus created this as part of his Aspects of Suburban Life series, which was intended for a post office mural. Administrators didn’t appreciate Cadmus’s humor, however, and the project was abandoned.