Nude #1, 2, 3: Nude # 3

1984

Nude #1, 2, 3: Nude # 3, 1984. Paul Cadmus (American, 1904–1999), Rizzoli. Etching; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Barry Bradley 2009.595 © Estate of Paul Cadmus/ VAGA, NY After traveling to Italy in the early 1930s, American artist Paul Cadmus became fascinated with Renaissance art and adopted certain Renaissance drawing styles, especially when rendering male nudes. He placed nudes like this one in tight boxes, focusing on how the tension of the body conveys physical and emotional struggle. The lines in the background of this print imply a shifting momentum from left and right toward the center. Like Michelangelo, he rendered his nudes sculpturally, employing finely hatched lines to define their musculature and to create the effect of light reflecting on marble.