Charley Harper
Charley Harper (1922-2007) was an American illustrator known for combining a passion for the natural world with a minimalist, geometrically reduced style and an irresistible sense of humor. Raised on a West Virginia farm, where he developed an early appreciation and love for animals and design, Harper attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and graduated from the Cincinnati Art Academy, where he also taught for many years.
Harper eventually lost interest in realism, and began to imaginatively investigate the similarities between human and animal behavior through minimal line drawings, while playfully depicting animal physiology using shapes, colors, patterns and textures for unexpected and always fascinating results. Armed with an uncanny ability to capture the wonder of the natural world, he captured the unique aspects of his wildlife subjects through highly stylized geometric reduction, producing numerous illustrated books, prints and murals from 1950 on. It was his ‘Golden Book of Biology’ (1961) that specifically made an impression on Designtex president Susan Lyons as a child. She recalls, “I’ve always loved the modern sensibility that Charley brought to his art. His idea of “abstracted realism” is very appealing to me. I loved the ‘Golden Book of Biology’ as a kid, but I didn’t know at the time that he was the artist who had done that work.”
In 2001, designer Todd Oldham tracked Harper down towards the end of his life to produce a book about his work. It was through Todd’s efforts that Designtex has been able to create a focused upholstery and wallcovering collection for pediatric healthcare using Harper’s work, in recognition of not just its aesthetic appeal, but its deep biophilic resonance as well. ‘Beguiled by the Wild’ is one of these designs; an artful melange of beasts, bugs, fish, fowl, and foliage, arranged like the interlocking pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and sketched in clean lines against a vivid single-color background that Harper originally created in 1994. It is now available in 16 new colorways each chosen to reflect the artist’s ethos. The artwork itself can be experienced on multiple levels. From the pure, unadulterated line work to the impressive technical savvy and true-to-life depictions of the various species, Harper’s creative ingenuity is a wonder to behold.