Charley Harper was an American Modernist artist best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations. He was born in Frenchton, West Virginia in 1922. It was Harper’s upbringing on his family farm that influenced his work to his last days. He left his farm home to study art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. It was on Charley’s first day at the Art Academy he met fellow artist Edie Mckee and married her right after their graduation in 1947.
Charley and Edie spent their honeymoon traveling the country, mainly in the west and south, being able to do so because of the Stephen H. Wilder Scholarship the Academy awarded to Charley for post-graduate travels. The first scholarship of its kind that the school had awarded. Harper later returned to the Art Academy of Cincinnati as a teacher, but eventually, the couple and their son Brett formed Harper Studios.
During his career, Charley Harper illustrated numerous books (most notably The Golden Book of Biology) and magazines like Ford Times. Because his subjects were mainly natural, and mostly birds, Charley often created works for nature-based organizations, among them the National Park Service; the Cincinnati Zoo; the Cincinnati Nature Center; the Hamilton County Park District; and the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania.
In a style he called “minimal realism”, Charley Harper captured the essence of his subjects with the fewest possible visual elements.
Just brilliantly,
Charley Harper died on June 10, 2007, and the world hasn’t looked the same since.
You can pick up your own piece – prints, books, cards etc – by this amazing illustrator at CharleyHarperPrints.com
THE CAVENDER DIARY 
Thanks for expanding my knowledge of American artists!
Anytime,
Hey, I’m diggin’ your blog…just might be a long night reading all your posts
Thank you…the calico cat would work well interpreted in a quilt wall hanging…he’s cute.
Thank you for this post! I have seen a couple of his pieces before but didn’t have a clue who the artist was. I really love his work.
Yeah, we do too.
His style is so simple, almost childish…pro’lly why he illustrated so many books for kids
Wow. Thanks for the education. Like Cindy I’ve seen a couple of those illustrations before. The only thing I hate about your blog is that I’ve paged back and read the whole thing and I need more. I found you through a Google search of “garage interior” a long time ago. I was thrilled at the garage update a couple of days ago. I almost commented then about the floor. I had good results with Rustoleum Garage Epoxy. I have the gray with blue flecks. You can get other fleck colors on eBay. I put it down shortly after Hurricane Irene forced me to power wash the garage floor. (Almost two years ago). I was going to chide you for not featuring that wonderful work bench you rescued from the trash. I don’t subscribe to any other blog either so you must realize I hold you in high esteem. Oh wait…Apartment Therapy too. One other.
First of all, We LOVE to hear from readers…..most are so silent. I check the stats, so we know people are visiting, but we don’t know anything about them.
We are going to paint the garage floor, but hadn’t thought of flecks ’till you mentioned them. Love the idea of grey with blue. Have to wash off the oil first.
(Irene had us stuck on St Croix btw…worst vacation ever)
Addicted to Apartment Therapy too, they have featured us a couple of times in the past year.
We are just thrilled that you follow us so closely.
I promise to keep writing as long as you keep reading.
(ohh and glad that you like Charley Harper, he was a great guy)
I’m old enough to remember when this look was IN. I never would have guessed that I would love it so much now! Thanks for introducing us to this artistic genius!
Dianna, I think his style is pretty timeless. Glad that you like him, I’m addicted to his children’s books….quite magical they are
I love these posts!
We have a framing place here that carries a lot of these. I LOVE the Pelican! I should grab one before pelicans become the new owls.
LOLOLOL, or octopui, octopus? What ever they are called, I see them everywhere now.
I like the pellican too, with all the beach goers in the background