Individuals deal with the vagaries of life in dramatically different ways. Justin McCarthy was driven inward to find solace and stability in the creative outlet of drawing and painting. He came from a well-to-do, professional family, but his early years were marked by the deaths of his brother and father and the loss of most of the family savings in the 1908 stock market panic. McCarthy entered law school but was unable to complete his degree and suffered a nervous breakdown. He spent several years in institutional care, where he began painting in watercolor and drawing in pencil, activities he continued upon his return to his family’s decayed mansion. He expanded his artmaking materials to include crayon, oil, acrylic, and recycled substrates, such as file folders and castoff furniture like this Formica tabletop. McCarthy’s work expresses a love of beauty and glamour in any form, from beautiful women to sports figures to nature. Many of his subjects—perhaps these birds of paradise—were inspired by images culled from National Geographic, Life, and other popular magazines.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Birds of Paradise," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.