Justin McCarthy.
(1891-1977, Pennsylvania and Arizona)
Vienna Boys Choir.
c. 1960s.
Signed bottom right.
Titled bottom left.
Oil on Masonite.
Excellent condition.
Image is 18"w x 24"h.
Frame is 19.5"w x 25.75"h.
Provenance: Callowhill Art Gallery, Reading, PA, their label verso.
The Mike Dale Collection.
Est. $2,000-$3,000.
Ship: $55

Justin McCarthy was born on May 13, 1891, in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, the son of a newspaper publisher and gentleman farmer considered to be the wealthiest man in town. The family lived in a lavish mansion so grand that it had its own theater for the staging of plays. In 1907, McCarthy's older (and according to some, favored) brother died. The family traveled to Europe to ease their grief, but soon after their return in 1908 McCarthy's father died, and the family finances abruptly crashed.

McCarthy attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania but, failing his second year exams, he was unable to return. This led to a severe mental breakdown which caused him to be institutionalized in the Rittersville (PA) State Home for the Insane from 1915 until 1920. Upon his release from the hospital he returned to live with his mother in the family mansion, selling fruits and vegetables grown on their grounds to support themselves. When his mother died in 1940, McCarthy continued to live in the family's mansion, supplementing his income with menial jobs at Penn Dixie Cement, Just Born Candy Company, Bethlehem Steel, and Allentown State Memorial Hospital.

McCarthy's interest in art was inspired by a visit to the Louvre on the family's trip to Europe in 1907. Entirely self-taught, he started drawing around 1920 while he was still hospitalized. His mother encouraged him to continue to draw and paint as an escape from the boredom of the less than challenging jobs he was limited to after his release from Rittersville.McCarthy sold his art from his mansion and at local fairs. In 1960, artist and collector Sterling Strauser was introduced to McCarthy's work and became a supporter. Strauser arranged for McCarthy to be included in "Seventeen Naïve Painters,"a 1966-1967 traveling show organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

McCarthy often depicted figures from popular culture, such as the Vienna Boys Choir painting offered here. He was especially fond of beautiful women—movie stars, ice skaters, models, sports heroes—who all managed to find their way to his canvases, often inspired by images from newspapers and magazines. Other subjects of his work included animals, biblical scenes, comic strips, landscapes, and everyday life. While McCarthy did live a somewhat reclusive existence in his dilapidated mansion, he did occasionally venture out to attend movies, sporting events, and the Ice Capades. Sterling Strauser described McCarthy's painting style as "naïve expressionist," a fitting description for the highly stylized and textured works the artist created.

McCarthy's work is included in many important collections, including the American Folk Art Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In failing health, McCarthy left his home to spend time in Tucson, Arizona, where he died in 1977 at the age of 86.