Paul Cadmus (1904-1999)

According to Dr. Philip Eliasoph, Paul Cadmus once told him of the present work, "My personal sentimental favorite is my small 'Sleeping Nude.'" Cadmus explained of its making, "This tiny picture was begun, from one of my drawings, as a demonstration--to a young hopeful--of the technique of egg tempera painting...I found that I liked the commencement and stimulated, and perhaps fertilized, by bedtime book-looking--in particular Ingres and his Odalisques--I decided to continue and finish it. Unlike most of my paintings, this one is mostly painted directly from life, the model as used in the drawing being available at the time, as well as my furniture." (as quoted in University of Illinois, Krannert Art Museum, Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture: Fourteenth Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Urbana, Illinois, 1969, p. 98) As an acknowledgement to his inspiration, Cadmus writes "Ingres" on the book that sits at the man's feet.