Luigi Lucioni (American, born Italy, 1900–1988). <em>Paul Cadmus</em>, 1928. Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 1/8 in. (40.6 x 30.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 2007.28 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007.28_PS2.jpg)

Luigi Lucioni (American, born Italy, 1900–1988). Paul Cadmus, 1928. Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 1/8 in. (40.6 x 30.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 2007.28 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007.28_PS2.jpg)

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Do we know if Luigi Lucioni ever worked with Tamara de Lempicka?

That's a really interesting question, and I can see why you would wonder that. There's something similar about the way they both depict the human face, and they were working at the same time. However, I don't believe their paths ever directly overlapped.

I. Lorser Feitelson's "Diana at the Bath," also in the collection here, also reminds me of de Lempicka. Its female figures are very elongated and stylized in the same way.

Lucioni definitely likes to work in the same very polished style that she does! -- all the details are so crisp and the surfaces are so smooth.

Who is this handsome man?

Luigi Lucioni painted his friend and fellow artist Paul Cadmus in 1928. Lucioni captured the identity of a young, stylish man of the 1920s while also employing devices inspired by Renaissance portraiture. What drew you to this portrait of Paul Cadmus?

My friends and I were intrigued by his face.

Many people are! Cadmus would have been about 24 at the time of this portrait and Lucioni, only a few years older himself, effectively captured the visage of a dapper gentleman and art student. Cadmus would become known for his paintings of the male nude.

Paul Cadmus

Luigi Lucioni

American Art

On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Witness

Luigi Lucioni and Paul Cadmus probably met as students, and they doubtless shared acquaintances within New York’s circles of gay artists and writers. Lucioni’s likeness of Cadmus celebrated the shared passion of two young moderns for the ideal forms of Italian Renaissance art, particularly the paintings of Piero della Francesca. Within a modern close-up format, he captured a gaze that is at once tentative and mesmerizing.

ARTIST Luigi Lucioni, American, born Italy, 1900–1988

MEDIUM Oil on canvas

DATES 1928

DIMENSIONS 16 x 12 1/8 in. (40.6 x 30.8 cm) Frame: 20 3/8 x 16 1/2 x 2 in. (51.8 x 41.9 x 5.1 cm) (show scale)

SIGNATURE Signed upper right: "L. Lucioni 28"

COLLECTIONS American Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2007.28

CREDIT LINE Dick S. Ramsay Fund

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Witness

CAPTION Luigi Lucioni (American, born Italy, 1900–1988). Paul Cadmus, 1928. Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 1/8 in. (40.6 x 30.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 2007.28 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007.28_PS2.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 2007.28_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Orphaned work

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