Buffalo Robe Signal

Frank McCarthy is renowned in the minds of western art enthusiasts for capturing the essence of Shakespeare’s “Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.” Yet, just as often as he depicted a band of warriors charging "Out of the Windswept Ramparts," it was a single dramatic figure or dynamically designed landscape (through which a silent war party passed) that provided the “action” we associate with McCarthy’s work. "Buffalo Robe Signal" is such a piece. Other than the flourish of the robe, the flaring of nostrils and the mane on the horse, these men are not a drawn bowstring waiting to be unleashed. Nonetheless, the tension builds and we complete the entire story ourselves. This is why Frank McCarthy is the Dean of Western Action.