The Fleet's In!

Currently not on view

The Fleet's In!

1934

Paul Cadmus (American, 1904–1999)

Paul Cadmus based this print—in which sailors’ tight-fitting uniforms dramatically highlight their buttocks, muscles, and bulges—on a painting of his that the US Navy censored for showing sailors on leave cavorting with sex workers. In the ensuing controversy, one newspaper defended Cadmus, arguing that servicemen ought not be "sissies" who spend leisure time alone in libraries or museums, preferring that they pursue women, "drinking, dancing and the rest of the things the he-men do. . . " Ironically, it was likely lost on his defender that Cadmus, who was gay, included coded allusions to gay encounters like the man in suit and tie offering a sailor a cigarette.　　

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

The Fleet's In!

Date:

1934

Artist:

Paul Cadmus (American, 1904–1999)

Medium:

Etching

Dimensions:

Plate: 7 1/2 x 14 1/4 inches (19.1 x 36.2 cm) Sheet: 9 3/8 x 15 7/8 inches (23.8 x 40.3cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Lola Downin Peck Fund from the Carl and Laura Zigrosser Collection, 1981

Accession Number:

1981-115-9b

Geography:

Made in United States, North and Central America

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Currently not on view