By the time Schumacher executed this work he had explored the realms of abstraction extensively. The artist developed his own "haute-pâte" technique following Tàpies; layering on colour in a free, expressive style, and then often engraving the surface with a kind of ramified calligraphy similar to Wols. The concept of the painting surface as a weathered or graffiti-scarred wall had already become one of the defining characteristics of Post-War Expressionist Abstraction. The formal toughness and density of the great Expressionists and the sturdiness of German Abstract Art come together in Schumacher's oeuvre, and is more than apparent in this particular example.
The scale and freedom of "Cadmo" is characteristic of Schumacher. He uses a flaming red colour to create an arched shape over most of the canvas, rounded by a border of black and white at the uppermost margins. This kind of arched composition was a recurrent motif for Schumacher, and gave his works a firm, architectural structure. As Rudi Fuchs comments: "What strikes me most in Schumacher's paintings is their tough, internal architecture...The architectural toughness of the paintings comes from areas of strong, physical colour very tightly fitted into each other. Such patterns make the paintings very dense. It reminds me of the density of Schwitters' best works..Paris is only at a distance...Schumacher is on his own and that is wonderful." (Rudi H. Fuchs, Emil Schumacher Malerei/Painting 1936 - 1991, pp. 12-13)