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.