AW5-009: Philis Raskind - Male Nude - Crayon On Paper

TITLE: Male Nude

FRAME: 

COMMENTS: Crayon on Paper of Male Nude in the style of Paul Cadmus, by Phiis Raskind (American, 1936-2018). (See AW5-010 & AW5-011 for 2 additional works by Rhilis Raskind)

Philis worked as a sculptor and an instructor in NYC. She studied at the National Academy School of Fine Art NYC, the Art Students League NYC, the School of Visual Arts NYC, the Connecticut Graphic Center Norwalk, and with Frank Licetra, Master Wood Carver. Her exhibitions in galleries and museum include: Allied Arts of America NYC, Belanthi Gallery, Barbara Levy Gallery NYC, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Club NYC, DC Moore Gallery (photographs), Lever House Gallery, the National Sculpture Society, the Salamagundi Art Show, NYC, The Millennium Gallery, Silvermine Gallery, CT and Viselaya, MA., among many others. Philis accepted commissions from: the Commemorative Peace Medal (U.S. - North Vietnam), NYC Opera, CT Opera, Pfizer, Merck, and the New American Library among others. Her work is represented in many private collections world wide. She is listed in the World Who's Who of Women Artists and in Who's Who in American Art. In addition to her work as a sculptor and teacher, Philis produced many cabaret shows in NYC. She was an active participant in celebrity driven fund raisers for AIDS Research and Prevention, co-producing the first benefit for the AIDS Research Center at Bailey House NYC. Throughout her life, she was the recipient of multiple grants and awards, including the National Sculpture Society Scholarship Award, the Elizabeth T. Greenshields Grant, the Louis La Beame Prize (National Academy), the Anna Hyatt Huntington Bronze Medal, Gold Medal (Pen & Brush Club) and the Kalos Kagathos Award (National Sculpture Society) to name just a few.

Philis Raskind married Jon Anderson, longtime companion to Paul Cadmus shortly after Cadmus’s death in 1999. Jon Anderson, a former cabaret singer, became Paul Cadmus's longtime companion of 35 years and the subject of many of his works. Jon Anderson is the likely subject in this work by Philis Raskind. Paul Cadmus was an American artist who painted with egg tempera. For a time Cadmus worked together with his lover, Jared French, and French’s wife, Margaret, calling themselves PaJaMa (Paul + Jared + Margaret). Anderson and Cadmus met on a pier on Nantucket in 1964, when Andersson was twenty-seven and Cadmus was fifty-nine. "I never wanted to be with anyone else", Cadmus remarked. Thirty-six years later, at sixty-three and ninety-five, when Paul died, they were still together. Jon can be seen in the David Sutherland 1986 PBS Documentary about Paul Cadmus entitled “Paul Cadmus, Enfant Terrible at 80.” In the documentary, Cadmus joked that the modeling job he had offered Jon Anderson was actually just an excuse to meet the handsome young cabaret star. But even if it was physical attraction that first drew Cadmus to Anderson, it was their love, friendship and collaboration -- Cadmus, the artist, and Anderson, his muse -- that bound them. Up until his death in 1999, Cadmus created dozens of drawings and paintings of Anderson -- a collection of sensuous, erotic and often witty pieces. Many of these works were shown in "Muse," an exhibition at the Westport Arts Center held in 2012. Philip Eliasoph, professor of art history at Fairfield University, noted, "Cadmus and life model Anderson almost single-handedly resurrected figurative art. (Cadmus) choreographed the graceful movements of Anderson in the same way that George Balanchine directed his male ballet dancers." Cadmus died in 1999 and in 2006 Anderson married Philis Raskind, a figurative artist with whom he shared a similar relationship to what he had with Cadmus. The couple first became friends in 1970 at the National Academy of Design, where Raskind-Anderson was a student and Anderson was a model. In addition to her work as a sculptor and teacher, Philis produced many cabaret shows in NYC and was an active participant in celebrity driven fund raisers for AIDS Research and Prevention, co-producing the first benefit for the AIDS Research Center at Bailey House NYC. Philis Raskind Anderson died on September 30, 2018, after a year long struggle with brain cancer; three weeks later, Jon Anderson died at the age of 81.