Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life
by Charley Harper, Todd Oldham
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Book Reviews of Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life
Book Review: "vintage"-looking print job but still inspiring
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
Book Review: Disappointing Printing Job
Summary: 4 Stars
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."
Book Review: A masterpiece book of a life with not so much masterpiece treatment
Summary: 4 Stars
A brilliant book about a brilliant mind artist, from the nice cover/box treatment to the extremely now days made in 70's illustrations, this book shows some immortal and modern style artworks that has no predecessors. This is a really great source for inspiration and study for everyone that wants to say: "I am a illustrator". There is a lot of Mr. Harper's artworks with complete informations about it. A must have for any illustration nerd or maker in this decade and next.
The editors of this book didn't took any extra care on researching high definition images to print this book, some illustrations got a totally different colour from the original publications, the exception is the beautiful cover treatment and the box that came with it. Beautiful collection of Mr. Harper life works.
Amazon really makes what they mean in the shipping options, delivered just in the right time to Brazil.
Book Review: A MONUMENTAL work for a monumental set of work
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Book Review: Charlie Harper
Summary: 5 Stars
Finding Charlie Harper was the first delight. Who is this great
unknown artist? He is from the midwest, and well loved by those
who have had the early pleasure of meeting him. This complete
works of Charlie Harper reveals a keen aesthetic sharpened by
a lifetime of working a reduced design aesthetic with fascinating
overlapping rotations. They employ the observations of a biologist
selecting from the beauty of the natural world, then lovingly exploiting
it for design.
The book includes EVERYTHING he did, which is perhaps a flaw, but given
his importance, it is also a joy. The amazing works one wishes to remove
and set into their own collection, or frame and live with thinking along
with Harper how he got there.