An American sculptor, best known for his decorative bronzes done in an elegant style popular in the 1920s. In 1914, McCartan became the Director of the sculpture department of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City.
Posthumously honored by the National Sculpture Society, his public monuments were few—but the Eugene Field Memorial ("Winken, Blinken, and Nod") can still be found in the Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago.

McCartan's sculpture, The Nude, was stolen from the Grosse Pointe War Memorial in Michigan and was discovered at the bottom of the Detroit River eight years later. Other work can be found at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building, a national historic site in Newark, New Jersey includes pilasters by the artist. He worked on a pediment for the Department of Labor Building, in 1934 to 1935. He is buried at Saint Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.