Product Description

Charley Harper was an American original. For over six decades he painted colorful and graphic illustrations of nature, animals, insects and people alike, from his home studio in Cincinnati, Ohio until he passed away in 2007 at the age of 84. Renowned New York based designer Todd Oldham rediscovered Charley's work in 2001, and collaborated closely with him in the ensuing years; combing through his extensive archive to edit and design this stunning monograph. This coffee table tomb is a beautiful tribute to Charley Harper's singular style, which he referred to as Minimal Realism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61698 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 424 pages

About the Author

Customer Reviews

"vintage"-looking print job but still inspiring
As soon as I saw Harper's wonderful bird illustrations in Audubon magazine, I had to see more of his work. I was pretty taken aback by the price at first, but after previewing the entire book on the AMMO website (see Discussions below), I was more confident with my decision. It looked beautiful in the Flash slideshow and I hoped that it would look just as clear in the printed book. I had some concerns about the paper affecting print quality as the other reviewer mentioned, but I'd read other blogs & reviews from other sites and I'd heard more than enough good things about this volume.

It arrived in a lovely black & white patterned box to protect it during shipping, which is also useful for storage. As far as printing quality goes, it looks very similar to my vintage encyclopedia set from the 1960s - I have a feeling that they chose the matte paper for this reason. Yes, the colors are not as vibrant as the online preview (or the glossy pages of Audubon magazine), and yes, many of the images look like enlarged scans from previously-printed sources. You can see the blown-up halftone and a bit of a blurry edge on many illustrations. The photos of his wonderful mosaics need some color adjustment and look better online.

However, the whites are crisp and the blacks are pure black, and I'm not disappointed (I'm a picky OCD graphic designer too). My favorite aspects of this book are the creative spread layouts, the sketches & "in-progress" material, and the sheer volume & range of works contained in this book. It's an expensive book, but it's a deal when you consider the individual price of prints. In many cases, the prints will be about the same size as these pages anyways!

Disappointing Printing Job
Fans of Charley Harper will be thrilled by the breadth of this book, which produces images from his early illustration work as well as dozens and dozens of his beloved art prints. Todd Oldham did an outstanding job choosing and laying out the art work, which truly give a great overview of Charley's life and work.

HOWEVER. The book is printed on thick paper with a matte finish, and the result is disappointing for anyone who has seen the real pieces. The colors are muddy and dull, not at all like the bright colors Charley used, and the images lack the crisp lines that are the hallmark of serigraph prints. Glossy paper helps keep the colors bright and the lines sharp. This book has a hefty weight and a luxurious feel, but the images suffer substantially.

I hope that Todd Oldham and the printers will consider a second printing on glossy paper. Buy this book if you want to spend $200-$400 for a comprehensive look at Charley Harper's amazing work. But if you really want to enjoy his style, spend $50 for the smaller selection in "Beguiled by the Wild."

basicly, the best book ever
long overdue coffee table quality book about obscure but highly influencial mid-century illustrator Charles Harper.
everyone from Shag, Tim Biskup, Geoff McFetridge to Ren & Stimpy and Todd Oldham owes this guy. it's not just that he can paint like a mo' fo'--it's his unique ability to distill the complexities of nature and animals into their most poetic and graphic form. his best work shown much larger than they were originally printed. the only drag is that most of it has been reproduced from previously printed pieces (I'm assuming the original paintings are long lost), but the fine printing and great editing make up for it. pricey but essential.