Post #432199 by bigbrotiki on Tue, Feb 3, 2009 7:20 AM

"Das Boat" has been sitting in the garage.

Here's some info on the artist:

"Frank McCarthy was born in New York City in 1924. He studied at the Art Students League in New York City during the summers starting at the age of 14. He was a graduate of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York.

Frank McCarthy began his art career as a commercial illustrator. 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."

...and some more of his work:

http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2006/09/whole-lotta-mccarthy.html

...and still more, apparently a very prolific artist whose work we all have seen:

While produding for magazines, such as Collier's, Outdoor Life, Redbook, True, and publishers, including Avon, Dell, and Fawcett, McCarthy developed his trademark skills. He possessed an adept control of color values and contrasts which reproduced extremely well.

He also had an ability to conceive and execute scenes at the climax of action and drama, whether it be two cowboys with their guns drawn, or Native American warriors charging into battle. And he was not solely concerned with the action. McCarthy enhanced it by placing his figures within the grandeur of stunning American landscapes — red-rocked canyons, sage bush deserts, snow covered mountain ranges. During his busiest periods, McCarthy painted up to four book covers a month.

In the 1960s film studios took advantage of the fact that illustrators, rather than photographers, could often better dramatize a story's plot, themes, and characters in one coherent, compelling image. "There was no one better than Frank McCarthy for the action movies," remarks illustration historian Walt Reed. "Anything they couldn't photograph, they'd have me paint," recalls McCarthy. He flourished as an illustrator of advertising imagery (including posters, record cover art and the like) for major movie studios like Paramount, United Artists, Universal, and Warner Brothers. He painted many movie stars — almost always from film stills — including John Wayne in "The Green Berets," Sean Connery in "Thunderball," Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments," and James Garner in "The Great Escape."

McCarthy remembers a particularly challenging job during this busy time: creating the recognizable likenesses of Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner as they battled each other with swords while on horseback. "It's hard to do because when two guys are fighting, their faces don't look the same as they do in everyday life. And they were in profile, not head on." Numerous versions later, the image for "Taras Bulba" was completed for United Artists.

In 1968 McCarthy began to move away from commercial illustration when Charlie Dorsa, a good friend from his first studio job, proprelled him into the world of Western fine art. Dorsa introduced him to a sales person at a gallery who, upon seeing McCarthy's paperback covers, remarked, "If you can do that for me, I can sell them."