Joe Ferrara

1932 - 2004

Joe Ferrara was unusual for a Western artist because he lived his entire life just about as far east in the United States as one can get. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Ferrara earned his Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Pratt Institute in New York.

Following college, Ferrara moved back to Connecticut, established a commercial art business, and worked as an illustrator in New Haven and Hartford. In his thirties the Winchester Arms Company commissioned him to illustrate commemorative gun box sleeves. For example, the box sleeve illustrated by Ferrara for the John Wayne Commemorative Rifle featured a portrait of John Wayne surrounded by vignettes from eight of his movies. Ferrara also designed medallions, a series of calendars that have themselves become collectable, and gun engravings for the Winchester Arms Company.

As a fine artist, Joe Ferrara spent his career painting and sculpting Western subjects and wildlife. Perhaps the best known of his wildlife paintings was of a Bald Eagle, commissioned by the American Bald Eagle Foundation for its First Annual Stamp issue, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the designation of the Bald Eagle as a national symbol of the United States.

COLD TRAIL TO THE RAILHEAD Oil on Canvas 30 x 40 inches