This slim but large, almost square format publication is written by Lincoln Kirsten, who according to the introduction "has been intimate with Cadmus's (sic) art for half a century . . . and forty years ago marrying Paul's sister . . ."; so he ought to know his stuff! The intelligent, well written text is certainly illuminating, and discusses Cadmus' work in detail; it is however a little pretentious in tone at times. In addition to the commentary there are many quotations from Paul Cadmus, and occasionally other sources running throughout the book. These are clearly identified appearing when they do in italics in a narrow column to the side of the page. The book concludes with a Complete Catalogues of Painting 1931-1992, partly illustrated with small black and white reproductions; a list of selected exhibitions and works in public collections; and a bibliography.

This reprint of the 1984 edition contains over 150 paintings, etchings and drawings, with 86 pages of full colour, often with more than one image to the page. It includes all of Cadmus' paintings since 1984. The interesting page layout with narrow margins does lend a very busy appearance to the page, compounded by the often hectic composition of Cadmus' work. This is perhaps one artist who would benefit from the current trend of presenting the image in plenty of white space. It does at least attempt to present the images on the same page as they are discussed in the text.

As for the reproductions there is only one word: splendid. The images are crisp and bright and the colours strong, with the drawings sensitively presented in colour too. The pictures are frequently as large as the page will allow with some full page bleed or even double page. This all adds to the tantalising and provocative nature of the artist's work, making them very desirable indeed. ( )