Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf

Paul Cadmus, Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf, 1936, oil and tempera on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of State, 1978.76.1
Copied Paul Cadmus, Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf, 1936, oil and tempera on fiberboard, 31 3⁄4 x 50 in. (80.6 x 127.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of State, 1978.76.1

Artwork Details

Title
Aspects of Suburban Life: Golf
Artist
Date
1936
Location
Dimensions
31 3⁄4 x 50 in. (80.6 x 127.0 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of State
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil and tempera on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group — male
  • Landscape — building
  • Recreation — leisure — smoking
  • Recreation — sport and play — golf
  • New Deal — Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project — New York City
Object Number
1978.76.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1978.76.1

Artwork Description

Golf is from Paul Cadmus’s Aspects of Suburban Life series, which was commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project for a post office mural that was never completed. The paunchy golfers in this painting are more concerned with jawboning and smoking cigars than they are with perfecting their swings, and two of them appear preoccupied with the young, muscular caddy who waits to do their bidding. The caddy wears a poorer man’s clothes, and Cadmus included holes in the young man’s shoes to emphasize the distance between his social class and theirs.