katulka2's review
5.0
Love love love these images. Harper actually knows birds, and it shows.
He captures real attributes of different species in a way few artists do. I often find birds in art to look leaden, or else totally mismatched to their habitat or behavior. But Charley Harper gets it right every time.
Beautiful iconic work.
He captures real attributes of different species in a way few artists do. I often find birds in art to look leaden, or else totally mismatched to their habitat or behavior. But Charley Harper gets it right every time.
Beautiful iconic work.
amynbell's review
5.0
I re-encountered this book from my childhood recently in quirky downtown Tulsa bookstore and exclaimed over it such that my husband secretly bought it for a holiday gift. I did not appreciate this book as a child as much as I do as an adult--mainly because, like the author/illustrator, I'd never seen most of these birds in real life (many drawings were inspired by birds he'd seen in a field guide). And without the internet back then, I couldn't look them up to see what they really looked like.
Charley Harper has a very distinct art style. He breaks down the shapes and markings of animals into basic shapes: triangles and ice cream cones, lines with half circles, dots and pointy ovals. Birds are fat, colorful shapes on skinny line legs. But looking at his illustrations makes you actually see even birds you've known all your life from a fresh perspective. Did you ever notice that the cardinal wears a black bib? I liked to look at each bird drawing before searching on the internet for a photo in order to guess what it might look like. I think I would have enjoyed the book much more as a child if I'd had the internet to show me these birds from the far reaches of the country and time. Every illustration also comes with a commentary that is informative and sometimes imbued with dad-joke humor.
Some birds piqued my interest enough to research them, especially the extinct ones like the heath hen and rumored-to-be-extinct ones like the ivory-billed woodpecker. There are several birds from the book that I'd love to spot in real life like the green jay, mountain bluebird, painted bunting, indigo bunting, and the weird water turkey (who looks like a cross between a snake and a turkey when swimming in the water).
This book is one part art, one part bird, and one part what you make of it. If you're a bird lover and ever encounter this book out in the wild, be sure to pick it up and take it home with you.
Charley Harper has a very distinct art style. He breaks down the shapes and markings of animals into basic shapes: triangles and ice cream cones, lines with half circles, dots and pointy ovals. Birds are fat, colorful shapes on skinny line legs. But looking at his illustrations makes you actually see even birds you've known all your life from a fresh perspective. Did you ever notice that the cardinal wears a black bib? I liked to look at each bird drawing before searching on the internet for a photo in order to guess what it might look like. I think I would have enjoyed the book much more as a child if I'd had the internet to show me these birds from the far reaches of the country and time. Every illustration also comes with a commentary that is informative and sometimes imbued with dad-joke humor.
Some birds piqued my interest enough to research them, especially the extinct ones like the heath hen and rumored-to-be-extinct ones like the ivory-billed woodpecker. There are several birds from the book that I'd love to spot in real life like the green jay, mountain bluebird, painted bunting, indigo bunting, and the weird water turkey (who looks like a cross between a snake and a turkey when swimming in the water).
This book is one part art, one part bird, and one part what you make of it. If you're a bird lover and ever encounter this book out in the wild, be sure to pick it up and take it home with you.
pinoncoffee's review
3.0
So… there’s a whole genre convention among conservationists… where their entire approach to nature is to make you feel BAD about being a human and you should know you do BAD THINGS and everything is the worst. I would like Charley Harper’s delightful mid-century birds better if his words weren’t calculated to make me feel bad.
robyn_m's review
5.0
Charley Harper's birds are so ubiquitous that I never felt the need to look into his work, nor into him, as an artist. But this book is a special book, and I'm glad to have discovered it in my library.
Originally published in 1972, with art primarily from 1956-60, the re-issue adds a two-page introduction (2008) by Todd Oldham. There is also a six-page essay by Harper, which provides context. Remainder of the book is organized into six sections, consisting of double-page spreads with a witty paragraph (left) and a bird illustration (right).
Within the opening essay, I discovered that Harper was an environmentalist at heart, a fact which allows me to now better appreciate his "minimal realism" style.
"I could never get close enough to count the feathers in the wings, so I just count the wings."
"And I'm probably the only wildlife artist in America who has never been compared to Audubon."
Final paragraph of essay:
" Over the years my field work has improved a little. I can get the bird in the binoculars now, but the more I learn about nature, the more I am troubled by unanswerable questions about human exploitation of plants and animals and our casual assumption that the natural world is here only to serve people. I see all living things as fellow creatures with as much right as I have to be here and to continue living. I have to ask myself how man, the predator with a conscience, can live without carrying a burden of guilt for his existence at the expense of other creatures. Where does one draw the line between preservation of nature and preservation of self? Can a nature lover ever find true happiness at the top of the food chain? If you find humor in my work, it's because I'm laughing to keep from screaming."
Originally published in 1972, with art primarily from 1956-60, the re-issue adds a two-page introduction (2008) by Todd Oldham. There is also a six-page essay by Harper, which provides context. Remainder of the book is organized into six sections, consisting of double-page spreads with a witty paragraph (left) and a bird illustration (right).
Within the opening essay, I discovered that Harper was an environmentalist at heart, a fact which allows me to now better appreciate his "minimal realism" style.
"I could never get close enough to count the feathers in the wings, so I just count the wings."
"And I'm probably the only wildlife artist in America who has never been compared to Audubon."
Final paragraph of essay:
" Over the years my field work has improved a little. I can get the bird in the binoculars now, but the more I learn about nature, the more I am troubled by unanswerable questions about human exploitation of plants and animals and our casual assumption that the natural world is here only to serve people. I see all living things as fellow creatures with as much right as I have to be here and to continue living. I have to ask myself how man, the predator with a conscience, can live without carrying a burden of guilt for his existence at the expense of other creatures. Where does one draw the line between preservation of nature and preservation of self? Can a nature lover ever find true happiness at the top of the food chain? If you find humor in my work, it's because I'm laughing to keep from screaming."
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