Jerry

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Jerry

Artist Paul Cadmus (American, 1904-1999)

Place of OriginUnited States

Date1931

DimensionsFrame: 30 1/4 × 26 1/2 × 3 1/4 in. (76.8 × 67.3 × 8.3 cm)
Painting: 20 x 24 in. ( 50.8 x 61 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange

Object number

2008.140

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesKirstein, Lincoln. Paul Cadmus, NY: Chameleon Books, 1996. pg. 11, b & w illustration (also previous editions).

Spring, Justin, Paul Cadmus: the male nude, New York, Universe Publishing, 2002, p.15, fig. 17, p. 17.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 324, repr. (col.).

Phaidon Editors, Art of the Erotic, Phaidon Press, 2017, p. 237-8, repr. p. 117 (col.).

Haskell, Barbara ed., Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2018, p. 82-83, repr. (col.) fig. 3, p. 83.

Label TextIn this frank and intimate portrait, artist Jared French (1905–1988) gazes candidly out at the viewer. Paul Cadmus painted it while he and French were traveling in Europe. At the time the two were involved in a relationship; they would remain lifelong friends, and occasional lovers, even after French married in 1937. Cadmus considered it his first mature work—“Any painting before [Jerry]…I call ‘student work.’” It does not, however, include the biting social or political commentary or satire for which he would become known. Instead, it reveals a startling intimacy and emotional depth that is unusual for the artist. Rarely exhibited, Jerry remained in the private collection of French and his heirs until acquired by the Museum in 2008. Cadmus depicts French holding a copy of Ulysses by influential Irish author James Joyce (1882–1941). From its publication in 1922 the book was controversial, inciting scrutiny ranging from early obscenity trials to protracted textual battles. In 1931, when this portrait was painted, the groundbreaking book would have symbolized everything young American sophisticates Cadmus and French considered desirably European and avant-garde.