YMCA Locker Room

Paul Cadmus, YMCA Locker Room, 1934, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Frank McClure, 1979.98.45
Copied Paul Cadmus, YMCA Locker Room, 1934, etching on paper, plate: 6 3⁄8 x 12 5⁄8 in. (16.2 x 32.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Frank McClure, 1979.98.45

Artwork Details

Title
YMCA Locker Room
Artist
Date
1934
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
plate: 6 3⁄8 x 12 5⁄8 in. (16.2 x 32.1 cm)
Credit Line
Bequest of Frank McClure
Mediums Description
etching on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group — male
  • Recreation — leisure — conversation
  • Architecture Interior — civic — community center
  • Recreation — leisure — grooming
  • Architecture Interior — civic — YMCA
Object Number
1979.98.45
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1979.98.45

Artwork Description

Born to artist parents in New York City, Paul Cadmus began studying art at the National Academy of Design when he was fifteen. By 1928, he was working as a commercial illustrator and taking classes in life drawing at the Art Students League. The lasting influence of this traditional art education is seen in the idealized, muscular, often nude male models he depicted throughout his career. In this etching a gym locker room provides a natural setting for presenting figures in various states of undress. Though Cadmus pokes fun at the carousing men, who pester and flirt with one another, the artist and fellow New York gay men benefitted from such safe spaces in which same-sex attraction could be expressed. In the same year as this print's creation, his painting The Fleet's In! drew criticism from government officials for its satirical depiction of drunkenness and sexually suggestive behavior among uniformed sailors in the United States Navy.