12 Facts About Charley Harper

Charley Harper was a Cincinnati-based American Modernist artist.

Charley Harper was best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters, and book illustrations.

Charley Harper left his farm home to study art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and won the academy's first Stephen H Wilder Traveling Scholarship.

Also during his time at the Academy, and supposedly on the first day, Charley Harper met fellow artist Edie Mckee, whom he married shortly after graduation in 1947.

Charley Harper returned to the Art Academy of Cincinnati as a teacher and worked for a commercial firm before working on his own.

Charley Harper died in Cincinnati on Sunday, June 10,2007, at age 84 after contending with pneumonia for some months.

Charley Harper contrasted his nature-oriented artwork with the realism of John James Audubon, drawing influence from Cubism, Minimalism, Einsteinian physics and countless other developments in Modern art and science.

Charley Harper's style distilled and simplified complex organisms and natural subjects, yet they are often arranged in a complex fashion.

Whereas, the brilliantly rich, colorful paintings, prints, and illustrations made by artist Charley Harper have delighted Cincinnatians and art lovers around the world since the 1940s; and.

Whereas, Charley Harper began his illustrious 60-year career as an artist when he attended The Art Academy of Cincinnati, where he later taught and inspired younger artists; and.

Whereas, a new generation of contemporary graphic artists have been moved and inspired by Charley Harper's simplified, beautiful imagery and his visionary imagination; and.

In 2020, Harper was posthumously awarded the John A Ruthven Medal of Distinction.