Viewing a McCarthy painting of
the Old West is like walking in on an Indian raid or chasing bandits
or riding with the cavalry in a column of twos. There's action,
plenty of it!
Born in 1924, Frank McCarthy has been drawn to the West ever since he read Will James novels as a boy and was excited by N.C. Wyeth's illustrations in classics such as Robin Hood, and Treasure Island. His formal education was acquired at Pratt Institute and the Art Student's League where he studied under the eminent painters George Bridgeman and Reginald Marsh. A successful career in commercial art and illustration followed, including book covers for major publishers and advertising art for movie studios and large corporations.
The lure of the West was strong, however, and in 1974 McCarthy settled in Arizona, where he has blazed a trail of accomplishments ever since. He is a much honored member of the Cowboy Artists of America; has had retrospective shows at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, the Gilcrease Institute in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Leanin' Tree Museum in Colorado, the Frontier Army Museum at Fort Leavenworth, the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas, and the Norton Museum in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Articles about his McCarthy's paintings have appeared in many national magazines, and two books of his art have sold-out and are currently out-of-print: The Western Paintings of Frank C. McCarthy (Ballantine Books, 1974) and The Art of Frank McCarthy (published in 1992).
Frank McCarthy was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in the summer of 1997.