Silhouettes (The Frenches), Hawthorne House, Provincetown

1947

Not on view

Forging a collective identity using the first two letters of each of their names, Paul Cadmus, Jared French, and Margaret French toyed with the earnestness of artistic photography. During trips to Fire Island, Nantucket, and Cape Cod, the three painters, who shared a sexually charged long-term relationship, channeled the magical realism of their canvases into photographic recreations with undertones of psychosexual tension. Fellow artists and writers Lincoln Kirstein, George Tooker, Truman Capote, and George Platt Lynes, among others, joined in staging playfully enigmatic photographs in which figures, though often physically close, seem to remain emotionally closeted.

Artwork Details

Title: Silhouettes (The Frenches), Hawthorne House, Provincetown
Artist: PaJaMa (American)
Artist: Paul Cadmus (American, New York 1904–1999 Weston, Connecticut)
Artist: Jared French (American, 1905–1988)
Artist: Margaret French (American, 1906–1998)
Date: 1947
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 11.0 x 16.7 cm. (4 5/16 x 6 9/16 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Mary Martin Fund, 1979
Object Number: 1979.504
Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

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[Fidelma Cadmus Kirstein, Margaret French, and Paul Cadmus, Fire Island]

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[Magaret French on the Beach, Fire Island], PaJaMa American, Gelatin silver print — [Magaret French on the Beach, Fire Island]
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1944

Paul Cadmus and Margaret French, Fire Island, PaJaMa American, Gelatin silver print — Paul Cadmus and Margaret French, Fire Island
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[Jared French Resting Against a Bed, Hoboken, New Jersey]

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1946

[George Tooker and Jared French Beneath Pine Tree]

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