American Artist - Charley Harper

Wings of the World, 1996 (Acrylic painting and serigraph)

Last summer, when visiting America, I came across the work of Charley Harper - an American artist who lived from 1922-2007. I've fallen in love with his unique style and delightful depiction of animals and birds. This year I had a calendar of his work along with a postcard desk calendar - of which all these illustrations have been taken from - copyright 2009 Estate of Charley Harper.
According to the write up included in the desk calendar "he came across his love of nature as a child growing up in rural West Virginia and developed his inimitable, bold style while a student at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and the Art Students League in New York City."

Quailsafe, 1983 (Acrylic painting and serigraph)

"Perhaps best known for his illustrations for The Golden Book of Biology, a children's book published in the 1960's, he first earned acclaim and decade earlier as a commercial illustrator for numerous publications. As demand for his work's grew, he went on to have a successful business producing limited edition silkscreens."

Mystery of the Missing Migrants, 1990 (Acrylic painting and lithograph)

I love his use of colour and particularly find his pieces showing a flock or group of birds the most interesting and visually powerful.

KOALAkoala, 1980 (Acrylic painting and serigraph)

And yet I get a great delight from his individual animals depicted in his unique minimal realist style.

Homecoming, 2006 (Acrylic painting and serigraph)

Eastern Kingbirds, 1960 (Serigraph)

Cheeky Chippy, 1972 (Acrylic painting and serigraph)

In describing his method of depicting wildlife - Harper once said, "I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced........;and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."

Box Seat, 1983 (Acrylic painting and lithograph)

Birdfeeders, 1968 (Acrylic painting and lithograph)

I'm so inspired by his work I'd love to design a room around them - thought about framing all these postcards in white frames around the walls in my office - they'd continually bring me joy and inspiration. And I truly love all of them in their own way - but do particularly love the ones with loads of color like Wings of the World (at the top) or Mystery of the Missing Migrants but then when looking for websites to refer you to, I found these three images below on the Internet which are so different and as well and group a wide range of different subject matters together.

Thankfully, you can purchase reproductions, posters, limited editions of Charley's work online - through the website - Charley Harper Prints - there's an endless selection of his work available in a range of sizes featuring all sorts of animals and bird life.

Asian Tiger, depicted above, and Visit my Website, below, are just two of hundreds available.

You can also check out his website - Charley Harpers Art Studio, where there are even more including some interesting posters he's done - I especially loved the one created for Glacier National Park in Alaska. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be re-visiting him as I'm completely hooked!!!