The Art of Paul Cadmus: "What I Believe"

"What I Believe" (1947-1948) by Paul Cadmus (died December 12, 1999) was inspired by E.M. Forster's essay of the same name, in which the novelist expresses his faith in personal relations and his concept of a spiritual aristocracy "of the sensitive, the considerate, and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human condition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos."

Paul Cadmus, glbtq online encyclopedia 

Note the happy, sun-drenched same-sex couples on the left, and the miserable mixed sex couples on the right.

More by Paul Cadmus below the fold:

Paul Cadmus, "The Fleet's In"

Paul Cadmus, born December 17th  1904, was an American artist best known for his paintings and drawings of nude male figures.  This painting, with its depiction of two sailors embracing, provoked such an outcry that it was removed from an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., in a process that foreshadowed the response to Robert Mapplethorpe's work in the 1990s.