Paul Cadmus

Beginning in the 1940s, Paul Cadmus produced numerous highly detailed studies of nude male bodies, including many drawings like this, which he considered to be finished works of art. His sitters were mostly professional models, in this case a New York model and hustler named Ted Starkowski (“TS” in the title). Though Cadmus admired the bodies of these men, he found that maintaining an emotional distance from his models invested his drawings with a powerful and productive psychic tension. That energy is present here in the model’s gaze, almost hidden by the shadow of his arm as he makes direct eye contact with the artist and with viewers. Cadmus’s lifelong commitment to slow, careful working methods and drawing from life demonstrate his profound respect for the academic tradition of figure drawing.