Art Teacher News

This is an art news blog of the Incredible Art Department.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Artist Charley Harper dies


Noted Cincinnati wildlife artist Charley Harper, 84, died Sunday. He had been battling pneumonia off and on for the past few months, said son, Brett.

Harper was born in West Virginia in 1922. He arrived in Cincinnati to attend the Art Academy of Cincinnati and never left. He met wife, Edie, also an artist, at the Academy and the two married in 1947 after graduating. They traveled cross country on their honeymoon, using money Charley had won when he was awarded the academy’s first Stephen H. Wilder Traveling Scholarship, which was earmarked for post-graduate travel.

They worked from their Roselawn and later, Finneytown, homes. Brett, their only child, also became an artist and joined them to form Harper Studios.
ADVERTISEMENT

Harper is best known for his pared-down, minimalist depictions of nature, especially birds, which became a signature for him. His work appeared in books and magazines, on posters and prints, in paintings and mosaics, and on an array of merchandise from mugs and Christmas ornaments to aprons and dinnerware.

He illustrated “The Golden Book of Biology” and “Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two Cookbook,” created a series of posters for the National Park Service depicting the nation’s National Parks, as well as posters for the Cincinnati and Hamilton County park districts, the National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and other nature-related organizations.

Harper exhibited widely locally. His work is in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, which will open an exhibit of his and Edie’s work Aug. 18. Botanical works by all the Harpers also are on exhibit now at the Lloyd Library, downtown.

Harper’s work was the subject of the books “Birds and Words,” (1974), “Beguiled by the Wild” (1995) and the new career-retrospective “Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life” (AMMO Books, $200 standard edition, $400 limited edition with silkscreen print) by designer Todd Oldham.

Oldham was in town last week for an appearance at the Contemporary Arts Center, whose Graphic Content exhibit he designed and which featured the work of Charley when it opened in December and now includes work by Edie. Oldham said he visited with the Harpers and gave Charley one of the first copies of the book to come off the presses.

“His work just blew me away,” said Oldham. He has been collecting Harper prints and paintings for decades, used Harper prints on fabric for his La-Z-Boy line and included Harper in his book “Handmade Modern.”

“Most artists slow down and create less complicated work as they get older, they don’t have the energy to do more and more. But not Charley. It almost looks like he worked in reverse, doing bigger and more complicated work.”

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home