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The mid-1800s brought a great surge westward which aroused and antagonized the Native American tribes whose land was being violated and whose staff of life, the buffalo, was being exterminated. The Indians relentlessly attacked the endless wagon trains, the crews laying the railroad tracks, the pony express riders, the men stringing telegraph wires and the lone prospector seeking hidden mineral wealth on the Indian's sacred grounds. Warring bands waiting silently on high ridges and outcroppings would receive smoke signals from their scouts, whereupon they would descend in full fury upon the unsuspecting trespassers.
"The Hostiles" is a McCarthy classic, in subject and composition. The rugged land is as much a central character as the Indians who aggressively defend it. The prominent, rocky ledge emphasizes the powerful position of this band and the point man in particular. "The Hostiles" embodies the spirit of defiance in the face of all challengers both visible and anticipated.
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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.
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