Keep It 100
Celebration of Charley Harper
On His 100th Birthday
Aug. 4, 5–7 p.m.
Continues through Sunday, Aug. 14
Art Academy of Cincinnati
The Pearlman Gallery
1212 Jackson Street
More information.
The Art Academy of Cincinnati’s celebrates the 100th birthday of one of its most famous alumni, Charley Harper, today!
More than 40 prints from Harper’s career will be featured in a new exhibition in the AAC’s Pearlman Gallery.
Harper developed one of the most recognizable styles of American illustration in the 20th century.
With a body of work ranging from advertising and posters to murals and paintings, and a delicate approach to lines and colors, Harper’s love of nature led him to create an influential legacy that is now compiled in a new book, Wild Life: The Life and Work of Charley Harper.
Curated in collaboration with the Charley Harper Art Studio, led by his son Brett Harper, and offering insights into his private life, influences, and professional evolution, this book presents the Harper universe in its totality. He will attend celebration and sign copies of his new book.
Harper was named a Distinguished Art Academy Alumnus in 2019. He was a Cincinnati-based American Modernist artist, best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters, and book illustrations.
Ladybugs, birds, dogs, and owls. With a never-ending curiosity for the world around him, Charley Harper developed one of the most recognizable styles of American illustration in the 20th century. With a body of work ranging from advertising and posters to murals and paintings, and a delicate approach to lines and colors. Brett Harper, who wrote the preface for and is the co-editor of Wild Life, leads the Charley Harper Art Studio, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting the American illustrator’s work. Charley Harper's art is a beloved treasure which inspired an entire generation of artists and designers.
Born in Frenchtown, West Virginia in 1922, Harper’s upbringing on his family farm influenced his work to his last days. He left home to study art at the AAC, and won the school's first Stephen H. Wilder Traveling Scholarship. While at the AAC, and supposedly on his first day there, Harper met fellow artist (and fellow AAC Distinguished Alumna), Edie McKee, who he married after graduation in 1947.