229 Race for the Shallows

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2016 Apr 02 @ 14:25UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Art
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 12,500.00 USD
Estimated at 25,000.00 - 35,000.00 USD
Race for the Shallows
Artist: McCarthy, FrankDate of Birth: 1924-2002
Medium: Oil on board
Dimensions: 24 x 36 inches
Signed: Signed lower right/CA and dated 1979
Verso: Signed, titled and dated verso

It’s a classic “cut ’em off at the pass” painting, and it looks bad for the two traders on the raft. The question is, will the mounted braves and chief be satisfied with some or all of whatever goods are heaped up under the skin tarp? Is this a plunder party, or a war party? As in all of his best works, Frank McCarthy frames the action in Race for the Shallows tightly between topography and meteorology. Creating frames within frames, the raft, and the men on it, are diminished by distance and bookended— claustrophobically, in fact—by two Indians. Even the foamy splashes their horses kick up seem like tidal waves in front of the raft. This visual “tight spot,” serves to emphasize the predicament of the moment. McCarthy was a master at using point of view to heighten the drama.