Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life [Hardcover]

Todd Oldham (Author), Charley Harper (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009

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 tome is popularly priced, beautiful tribute to Charley Harper's singular style, which he referred to as Minimal Realism.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: AMMO Books; Bilingual edition (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934429376
• ISBN-13: 978-1934429372
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 12.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PERFECTION!!!!, December 7, 2009

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (Hardcover)

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.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively and lovely, December 17, 2009

By 

Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (Hardcover)

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.)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, November 17, 2009

By 

Ren Dawg "Ren Dawg" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (Hardcover)

This book is awesome. It is a beautiful sample of Charley Harper's wonderful work. I am a fan but not a big enough fan to shell out the 200 bucks for the bigger version, so this book is perfect. The reproduction is great.
There is a really fun and interesting interview with Charley at the beginning of the book that helps set the mood for the beautiful artwork throughout the book.