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Charley Harper’s Kirtland Firebird Warbler

Newly added to my collection of flea market finds is the April 1978 issue of Ford Times featuring a painting by Charles Harper on the front cover. There’s also a couple of interior illustrations of the Jack Pine Firebird by Harper to accompany the magazine’s feature article, “Will the the Kirtland’s Warbler Return?.”

“His were not the usual photos or photorealistic paintings. They showed angular creatures produced using mechanical drawing instruments – compasses, protractors, rulers. Charley's work was quite unlike any wildlife art I had ever seen—style he described as minimal realism: never counting the feathers, just counting the wings. Nothing could be further from the realism of most of the American wildlife art in the last quarter of the past century. Charley joked that he was the only wildlife artist not to be compared with Audubon by the marketing people…” —Nicholas Hammond, former editor of Birds magazine