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.
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About the Author
Todd Oldham is one of the most beloved and mediagenic designers working today. Originally a couture fashion designer with several stores in New York, and a commentator on MTV's House of Style, Todd's career has evolved to include all areas of design, from film and photography to furniture and graphic art. Todd appears frequently as a consultant on NBC's Today, as well as on MTV's enormously popular Crib Crashers, for which Todd redesigns teenagers' homes in the likeness of their favorite stars' abode. Oldham designs his own line of dorm room furnishings for Target in addition to a line of furniture for La-Z-Boy, and he is currently developing a television series based on Handmade Modern. Most recently, he has become a contributing editor to ReadyMade magazine. He lives in New York City.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 60 people found the following review helpful
By etl
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a fan and collector of Charley Harper's, and, that being said, this book is truly a beautiful and wonderful representation of his work. Also, I want to say as an owner of the large $200 dollar edition of this book, I have to admit that I like this one better. The big one is really tough to physically handle due to its size and weight. Plus the pages in the big book are matte and really don't do Charley's work justice. This smaller version has glossy pages which allows all the images to really pop off the page. Please note that this version of the book has every single image and page that is in the larger version -- EVERY PAGE. So, buy this for yourself and buy one for a gift...everyone will love this book.
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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Length:
0:30
Mins
Charley Harper is an artist with a very unique style he calls "minimal realism". He's able to capture the essence of his subjects with minimal visual elements.
The painting of birds caught my attention with the clean smooth lines which resembles vector work. His colour choices are from observation in life and the resulting image is always bold and striking. Many of his pieces are on nature.
The author Todd Oldham only discovered Charley Harper's work in 2001. Since then, he has been collecting all the work he has ever published. The result is this impressive 424-page book that collects work that span the entire career of Charley Harper. It includes the commissions he done for Ford Motors, schools, advertising agencies, etc.
There are two editions for this art book. The first is a 5.5kg book published in 2007, the year Charley Harper passed away. The newer edition, which I have, is the shrunken down version which is lighter, more handy and affordable. The construction of the book is great and all the illustrations are brilliantly reproduced.
The contents are as follows:
* Conversation with Charley Harper
* Betty Crocker's Dinner For Two Cook Book
* The Giant Golden Book of Biology
* The Animal Kingdom
* Ford Times Magazine
* Birds & Words
* Advertising & Promotions
* Mosaic Murals
* Paintings
* Posters
There's a nice long interview written by Todd Oldham which is also translated in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Charley Harper has published a few books before so there might be some duplication here. If you're just intent on getting one book, make this the one. It's a beautiful, timeless art book.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
The painting of birds caught my attention with the clean smooth lines which resembles vector work. His colour choices are from observation in life and the resulting image is always bold and striking. Many of his pieces are on nature.
The author Todd Oldham only discovered Charley Harper's work in 2001. Since then, he has been collecting all the work he has ever published. The result is this impressive 424-page book that collects work that span the entire career of Charley Harper. It includes the commissions he done for Ford Motors, schools, advertising agencies, etc.
There are two editions for this art book. The first is a 5.5kg book published in 2007, the year Charley Harper passed away. The newer edition, which I have, is the shrunken down version which is lighter, more handy and affordable. The construction of the book is great and all the illustrations are brilliantly reproduced.
The contents are as follows:
* Conversation with Charley Harper
* Betty Crocker's Dinner For Two Cook Book
* The Giant Golden Book of Biology
* The Animal Kingdom
* Ford Times Magazine
* Birds & Words
* Advertising & Promotions
* Mosaic Murals
* Paintings
* Posters
There's a nice long interview written by Todd Oldham which is also translated in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Charley Harper has published a few books before so there might be some duplication here. If you're just intent on getting one book, make this the one. It's a beautiful, timeless art book.
(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
By cmyk
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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!
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!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
I have shared it with all my friends and love just browsing thru it.. Love the birds the most. He was a genius
Published 2 months ago by Eleanor Balaban
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful
This is an absolutely beautiful book. If you are interested in graphic artwork this is the book for you. Large wonderful book filled with full color plates. Read more
Published 2 months ago by N. Renfro
5.0 out of 5 stars
A feast for the eyes
Charley Harper only entered my consciousness last year when I saw a calendar of his designs. Then I bought a puzzle, "Diversity in the Burbs," and loved it even more, so I asked... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lynne Homeyer
4.0 out of 5 stars
4+
Thank You! SUuper! Book very nice! Bad packaging, and damaged cover!!! drawback ( . Printing is a bit weak. But on the whole pleasant experience from the book.
Published 6 months ago by Ivan Sharapov
5.0 out of 5 stars
nice book.
we like it. would have been interested to see
maybe more about how his business worked, but
the endless images of natural beauty and graphic
brilliance more than... Read more
maybe more about how his business worked, but
the endless images of natural beauty and graphic
brilliance more than... Read more
Published 7 months ago by B. Weeks
4.0 out of 5 stars
Charles Harper Book
I'm a huge Charles Harper fan. I bought a number of his serigraphs while I was living in Cincinnati and was sorry to learn that he passed away several years ago. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Joyful Gal
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorites
I did not buy this book here or from any local bookstore, I found it at a very small coffee-stop/misc-books-seller that was marked at an astounding $7.00. Read more
Published 12 months ago by At Home Mommy
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT WORK FROM CHARLEY HARPER, LOUSY WORK BY PUBLISHER
Charley Harper is a great illustrator to enjoy and learn from. This lower cost edition of the book (the full size edition sells for about $120 on Amazon, discounted from $200) will... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Joseph L. Breckenridge
3.0 out of 5 stars
An acceptable book
I discovered Charley Harper's work recently thanks to a friend, and fell immediately in love with it. Read more
Published 14 months ago by fer, indeed
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love the illustrations
I absolutely love this book. I would have given 5 stars if it was a larger in size. It is approximately 4" H and 8" W. There are many illustrations present. Read more
Published 15 months ago by GA Girl
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