Lot 22
Frank McCarthy(1924-2002)Breaking Up the Herd 9 x 12in
25 November 2019, 12:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$10,075 inc. premium
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Frank McCarthy (1924-2002)
Breaking Up the Herd
signed 'McCarthy CA ©' (lower right), titled and inscribed (on the turnover edge)
oil on canvas
9 x 12in
Painted in 1994.
signed 'McCarthy CA ©' (lower right), titled and inscribed (on the turnover edge)
oil on canvas
9 x 12in
Painted in 1994.
Footnotes
Exhibited
Sedona, Sedona Arts Center, Cowboy Artists of America: The 50-Year Roundup (A Commemorative Exhibition), July 18 - August 2, 2015.
In Breaking Up the Herd, Frank McCarthy showcases his knowledge of Plains Indian history, and his ability to capture intense action, movement and drama. A lone Plains Indian brave on horseback rides among a herd of galloping bison in this dramatic scene. Captured "at full throttle in a swirling cloud of dust, the bison plunge across the golden prairie covered with sage, grass, and rocks as the Indian brave waves a hide to cut three charging bison out of the larger herd."1 McCarthy creates a heightened sense of movement, danger and unpredictability by focusing on the composition's center action, while keeping the landscape largely indistinct, in a uniformly golden hue, obscured by dust.
"Like other stages in the history of the West, the glory days of the free-roaming Indians on horseback were relatively short. For most, little more than a century and a half elapsed from their acquisition of the horse and transformation of their lifestyle until white expansion and the relentless military blew out the light of freedom."2 McCarthy calls attention to this historic period in Breaking Up the Herd, when horses were an essential part of the life of Plains Indians. "Suddenly the Indian could outrun the buffalo and even give the swift-legged pronghorn a good chase. Instead of hunger, he often enjoyed surplus. Because the horse could carry or drag far more than the dog and cover vastly more distance in a day, its owner could venture wherever he wanted across the plains and high into the mountains."3 This sense of power and control is evident in the confident pose of the brave, despite the acute danger of his situation.
Born and raised in New York, New York, McCarthy studied locally at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students League. After graduating, he worked for nearly three decades as a commercial illustrator for publications including Colliers and Argosy, as well as for paperback book publishers, movie studios and advertisers. Many of his illustrations were Western in subject.
In 1971, McCarthy left his illustration career and became a professional fine artist. Within two years had his first major exhibition at the Husburg Gallery in Scottsdale, a successful show featuring 23 Western paintings that sold out in just 20 minutes. Encouraged by this triumph, McCarthy moved west and settled permanently in Sedona, Arizona. McCarthy was elected a member of the Cowboy Artists of America as well as a member of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, both in 1975 (he resigned from the CAA in 1998), and was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1998.
1 http://eddiebashacollection.com/collection/frank-mccarthy
2 E. Kelton, The Art of Frank C. McCarthy, The Greenwich Workshop, Inc., 1992, p. 17.
3 Ibid, p. 18.
