Bar Italia

Paul Cadmus, Bar Italia, 1953-1955, tempera on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1969.47.54
Copied Paul Cadmus, Bar Italia, 1953-1955, tempera on wood, 37 1245 14 in. (95.2115.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1969.47.54

Artwork Details

Title
Bar Italia
Artist
Date
1953-1955
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
37 1245 14 in. (95.2115.0 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Mediums
Mediums Description
tempera on wood
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Monument — statue
  • Italian
  • Recreation — leisure — smoking
  • Recreation — leisure — eating and drinking
  • Architecture Exterior — classical
Object Number
1969.47.54

Artwork Description

Paul Cadmus lived and worked in Italy in the early 1950s. Bar Italia satirizes the crowds of tourists in Europe during the postwar years, when Americans alone had the money to visit a continent devastated by the Second World War. A crowd of people fills an imaginary square cobbled together from different Italian cities. The sidewalk café offers a full range of characters, including argumentative Italians, pudgy clerics, hustlers, old widowed crones, and a group of what the artist called "rather outrageous" gay men. Cadmus also painted himself into the image, quietly taking in the boisterous scene from just beyond a young Italian perched on the wall. (Kirstein, Paul Cadmus, 1992) In the background a large marble monument parodies Italy’s decrepit architectural treasures, currently under repair at the hands of a stonemason at the top right. Cadmus's moony, prying tourists, who scan the sky for masterpieces and search phrase books for "Where is the restroom," say it all. But he included a final indignity: Just to the right of the painting's center, graffiti on the wall spell out "Go Away Americans."

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