Portrait of Don Windham 1941

Paul Cadmus made this drawing of Don Windham in 1941. It’s made from a tight network of lines, hatched and cross-hatched like a dense little thicket. I imagine Cadmus, leaning in, squinting a bit, his hand moving quickly but deliberately over the page. Each mark carefully placed to build up the form, the light, the shadow. It's like he's mapping out the landscape of Windham’s face, charting every contour. Look at the hair – a flurry of tiny, energetic strokes, each one suggesting a curl, a wave, a strand. And then the eyes, shadowed with tiny strokes, hinting at the secrets held within. The whole drawing has this feeling of close observation, of really looking, really seeing. You feel the artist's attention, his care. And you wonder, what was it like to sit for this portrait? What were they thinking, feeling, as Cadmus’s pencil danced across the page?