About Frank C. McCarthy
Frank McCarthy knew from an early age that his passion was art, copying from his
favorite comic strips. Encouraged by his parents and art teachers, he enrolled
at fourteen in New York’s Art Students League, studying first under George
Bridgeman and then under Reginald Marsh. After high school graduation, he
studied for three years at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute with a major in
illustration. Following his studies, McCarthy embarked on his art career as a
commercial illustrator in New York City. He painted illustrations for most of
the paperback book publishers, magazines, movie companies and advertisements. He
created works that became posters for such movies as the James Bond series.
Frank McCarthy’s talents were highly sought-after by art directors enabling him
to work as a free lance illustrator for many years. His art career spanned over
50 years, beginning with a request for a western cover for a magazine by an art
director. He left the world of commercial art in 1968, and began his fine art
career after moving to Sedona, Arizona. Frank McCarthy’s dynamic paintings
frequently featured the people of the west with a special emphasis on the Plains
Indian, mountain men and cavalry that comprised the lore and lure of the Old
West. Appropriately entitled the “Dean of Western Action Painters,” Frank
McCarthy’s art was unsurpassed for its motion, drama and absolute attention to
accuracy and detail. Highly collected and frequently imitated, Frank McCarthy’s
works were treasured throughout the world as classic examples of contemporary
Western Art. Retrospective showings of Frank McCarthy’s paintings have been held
at the Museum of the Southwest, Midland, Texas; the R.W. Norton Museum in
Shreveport, La.; the Thomas Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Ok.; and in 1992, at the
Cowboy Artist of America Museum (now known as National Center for American
Western Art) in Kerrville, Texas. Frank McCarthy was invited to join the
prestigious Cowboy Artists of America organization in 1975 and was an active
member in the CAA group for 23 years. He was inducted into the Society of
Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1997 Three books of his paintings have been
published-The Art of Frank C. McCarthy, Frank C. McCarthy, Fifteen Anniversary
commemorative and The Old West, a leather-bound Collector’s Edition. More than
100 limited edition art prints of his paintings have been published since 1974
by The Greenwich Workshop. McCarthy passed away in 2002 at his home of 30 years
in the beautiful red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.