Gerald McCann

1916 - 1995

Born in Queens but raised in Brooklyn, New York, Gerald Patrick McCann attended the Pratt Institute to study engineering. However, as McCann later recalled, "I first attended Pratt Engineering School, but then switched to the Art School, where I studied painting and anatomy with Nicholas Riley, who gave me the keys to his studio, enabling me to study his extensive collection of slides showing dissections of the human body."

By the time he was 23 years old McCann was producing pen and ink illustrations for pulp magazines, including: Ace Sports, Thrilling Sports, Sports Story, Western Story, and Wild West Weekly. According to McCann, he “began doing illustrations for Street & Smith, specializing in black and white dry brush of Western subjects, and from this I learned to create the strong light and dark patterns to which all good painting can be reduced."

Three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, McCann enlisted in the U.S. Army. After the war he moved to Long Island and continued his art education at the Art Students League of New York, where he studied with Harold Von Schmidt and attended lectures by Harvey Dunn. "Von Schmidt and Dunn were both strong influences on my work. I believe Harvey Dunn was one of America's most creative artists," recalled McCann. During the 1950s McCann says he “did covers and illustrations for a variety of pulps and men's adventure magazines, always with a Western motif or outdoor background," including Action Packed Western, All Novel Western, Exciting Sports, Giant Western, Popular Sports, Ranch Romances, Thrilling Ranch, Thrilling Sports, Thrilling Western, and Western Action, as well as several covers for Ranch Romances. McCann also drew and inked comic books for Avon, Hillman, St. John, Ziff-Davis, Charlton Comics, DC Comics, Dell Comics, American Comics, and Gilberton's Classics Illustrated Comics and illustrated dozens of books for young readers.

In 1959 McCann moved to Madison, Connecticut to be a part of the art community in the area that was associated with his former Art Students League teacher, Harold Von Schmidt and the Famous Artists School in nearby Westport. Fifteen years later, when the Famous Artists School was reorganized, McCann moved back to New York state, where he lived and worked the remainder of his life.

Over six feet tall and prematurely gray, McCann smoked cigars and cigarettes, and liked beer and whiskey. When asked how he managed to be so prolific, McCann simply said, "People often ask me how I keep coming up with fresh ideas. I tell them I drink a lot."

WINTER TRAILS Oil on Board 1975 20 x 29 7/8 inches