PAJAMA (PAUL CADMUS, JARED FRENCH AND MARGARET FRENCH) | SELECTED IMAGES
Auction Closed
April 5, 08:29 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
PAJAMA (PAUL CADMUS, JARED FRENCH AND MARGARET FRENCH)
SELECTED IMAGES
a group of 10 photographs including portraits of Paul Cadmus, Jared French, Margaret French, Fidelma Cadmus, Lincoln Kirstein, George Tooker, and others, most of them titled by Paul Cadmus in pencil and two with the 'Collection of Paul Cadmus' and 'Collection of Jon Anderson' stamps on the reverse, 1937-46 (10)
Various sizes to 6⅞ by 5¼ in. (17.5 by 13.3 cm.)
Gift of Paul Cadmus to Jon Anderson
Acquired from the above
The painter Paul Cadmus (1904-1999) and husband and wife artists Jared (1902-1989) and Margaret French (1906-1998) comprise the photographic collaborative known by their acronym, PaJaMa. Beginning in 1937, and over the course of nearly two decades, the three collectively staged photographs. Set against the backdrops of Fire Island, Provincetown, Nantucket, and Mulhocaway Farm, New Jersey, and partially inspired by Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, these images – often psychologically and sexually charged – sometimes served as studies for the artists’ subsequent paintings.
As Cadmus years later recounted, 'After we'd been working most of the day, we'd go out late afternoons and take photographs when the light was best. They were just playthings. We would hand out these little photographs when we went to dinner parties, like playing cards' (Jerry Rosco, Glenway Wescott Personally: A Biography, p. 78). The group of 10 prints offered here comes originally from the collection of Jon Anderson, Paul Cadmus’ lover for his last 30 years. Extant photographs by PaJaMa are rare as they were printed and gifted sparingly.