The Fleet's In!

Art © Jon F. Anderson, Estate of Paul Cadmus/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Currently not on view

The Fleet's In!,

1934

Paul Cadmus, 1904–1999; born New York, NY; died Weston, CT
2018-243
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More Context

<p><em>The Fleet’s In!</em> originated as one of Paul Cadmus’s most important early works, commissioned in 1934 as a mural painting by the Public Works of Art Project of the Works Project Administration, or WPA. Sailors on shore leave are depicted in complex poses and relationships, including, most notoriously at the time, a same-sex couple. The erotic exaggeration of clinging trousers and bulging crotches led to controversy: Admiral Hugh Rodman attacked it for representing “a most disgraceful, sordid, disreputable, drunken brawl,” while the secretary of the navy found it “right artistic” but “not true to the Navy.” The work was withdrawn from its inaugural exhibition, but its reproduction as an etching established a pattern in Cadmus’s career for disseminating his often-controversial work.</p>

Information

Title
The Fleet's In!
Dates

1934

Maker
Paul Cadmus
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
19 × 35.9 cm (7 1/2 × 14 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Duane E. Wilder, Class of 1951
Object Number
2018-243
Signatures
In graphite, lower right below image: Paul Cadmus
Inscription
In graphite, lower left: The Fleet's In! Edition of /50- / 2-8 11934 In graphite, lower right: 410508/send 2/ Dlagh In graphite, on verso lower left below stamp: 1963.30.1430
Marks/Labels/Seals
stamp on verso: Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts stamp dated, on verso lowe center: Jan 26 1995
Type
prints, etchings
Subject
women, dogs, trees, men, walls

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