Paul Cadmus, “Stone Blossom: A Conversation Piece”, 1939-40, Oil and Tempera on Lnen on Pressed Wood Panel
Cadmus was a slow, meticulous worker who favored the complicated, time-consuming medium of egg tempera. He finished an average of only two paintings a year. He was more prolific in other media, including drawing, printmaking and photography. Although Cadmus stopped painting toward the end of his life, he continued to draw at his home in Weston, Connecticut, particularly portraits and figure studies of his partner Jon Andersson. Paul Cadmus died in his home in Weston in 1999, just five days short of his 95th birthday.
“Stone Blossom: A Conversation Piece” is signed and inscribed with title and dated lower center in the New York Times newspaper on the ground. The group portrait from left to right consists of the Curator of Exhibitions and Editor of Publications at MOMA Monroe Wheeler, the novelist Glenway Wescott, Hollywood photographer George Platt Lynes, and Paul Levitt pictured mowing the lawn.