Customer Reviews

Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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."

Kudos to Todd Oldham and Charley on this amazing feat - I couldn't love this book much more (I've already purchased four for my family), yet there is one reason why I didn't rate it five stars: the printing. Everything is amazing, but the matte finish and somewhat reduced-quality sharpness of the images slights this book in my opinion. I understand that a higher-quality print would only make this book more expensive, but I'd be willing to pay for it. Hopefully they will release such an edition in the future. But honestly, in the mean time, this book is worth the $125+ cost.

Great highlights: the organization of Charley's work, the interview in the beginning, and the indexing of his work in the back. If you didn't know this genius or his work, please take the time to get to know him.

I need help. I cannot stop looking at this book. I have other things to do today but none more inspirational than looking through this beautiful thing. Charley Harper had so many styles and such a joyful way to look at the world that his work can't help but bring a smile to your face. His sense of design, color and composition are remarkable.

As for the book, it is a work of art unto itself. It's huge. It has a slipcase. It has it's own customized box. It beautifully printed. It is designed and noted by Todd Oldham who has taken obvious pleasure in bringing Charley Harper's work to a wider audience.

My recommendation, buy two. One for you and one to give away to your favorite creative person. Now let me get back to obsessing about Charley Harper!

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.

this book is well worth the investment. charley's simple drawings are inspirational. the design of the book compliments the artist's style.

We also saw the program on CBS Sunday Morning and immediately purchased the book. We have had it now for 3 or 4 months. My husband and I bring it out often and keep looking and looking. You see something different every time; the complexity of the simple and the simplicity of the complex. This man's mind was amazing. We are going to buy another one so we can dissasmble it and create a wall of pictures in our son's room that can be changed from time to time. It is one of my favorite treasures. I can't wait until my kids are a little older to look at it with them.

We are not graphic artists or book people. We just buy what we love. Our book does not seem to have any issues or problems. Just beautiful picutures that inspire our mind. Oh and the box it comes in is beautiful too.

A clear review of the life of a genius, the evolution of him imagery and a look at the full span of his career. Wonderful.

Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life
It's a wonderfull book about an artist I knew very little of since I live in Europe.
I was instantly moved only by the cover of the book, and as I looked further,by his birdsseries.
I'm really happy with the book but I think it's a little too big,too "blown up".I think the works look nicer if they are not blown out of they're real proportion.

I have watched Charley Harper and his art for a few years. I saw this book discussed on tv and decided to buy it as a wonderful compendium. It is that! I do have a disappointment about the quality of the paper and the images. I think the book gets its value from size and breath of the collection represented but as a piece of art itself I was disappointed that the images were not printed with more definition. I am pretty sure that the full size of the images were distorted to fit in the format of the book. But it does give you a Charley Harper fix and I am glad to page through it often.