Beschreibung:

Paul Cadmus (American, 1904-1999) Donny Nardona Titled and signed ".../Cadmus" l.r., with a label from Midtown Galleries, New York, affixed to the backing board. Pencil and crayon on tracing paper, 17 3/4 x 13 in. (45.1 x 33.0 cm), framed. Condition: Sheet taped to backing at upper corners, toning, subtly light-struck, rippling, scattered handling creases, scattered fox marks. Provenance: Midtown Galleries, New York; through to the current private Florida collection. N.B. Paul Cadmus met dancer Donny Nardona through the painter Elwyn Chamberlain in 1956. At the time, Nardona was a student at The School of American Ballet and Cadmus had recently returned to the United States from a two-year stint living and working in France and Italy. A skilled and prolific draughtsman, Cadmus had begun as a student at the National Academy of Design in 1919, at the age of 15, and had studied drawing exclusively for the following four years. He continued to create beautifully detailed charcoal, pen and ink, and egg tempera portraits throughout his career, often using the same male models repeatedly. He made at least four other drawings of Nardona, including a more formal version (in egg tempera) of this work (see Guy Davenport The Drawings of Paul Cadmus [New York: Rizzoli, 1989], pp. 70-71, 76). A great admirer of Italian Renaissance artists, Cadmus began working with the early Renaissance medium of egg yolk tempera paint around 1940. Because it could take up to six months to finish a painting with egg tempera, Cadmus produced only a few paintings each year. He continued to work on figure drawings, however, throughout his career using his partner, Jon Anderson as his principal model after 1965. Shortly after Nardona modeled for Cadmus, he quit dancing and moved to Florida.