The National Park Service turned 100 on August 25, 2016, and everyone can take part in the celebration, even Charley Harper!
The U.S. National Park Service commissioned 10 posters from Charley Harper to commemorate the biodiversity of different well-loved national parks. Each poster is rich with the wildlife known for that specific area.
These 10 posters (in-stock) by Harper celebrate the vast differences within the U.S. national wildlife preservation parks:
- Canyon Country
- Hawaii Volcanoes
- Isle Royale
- Glacier Bay National Park
- The Alpine Northwest
- The Coral Reef
- The Desert
- The Rocky Mountains
- The Sierra Range
- Atlantic Barrier Islands
Or checkout all of our Charley Harper x National Park Service Products
A Diverse Kind of Nature
Charley Harper’s fame came from his innate ability to see nature for its minimal elements. By using specific colors and patterns, Harper expressed a very realistic understanding of wildlife with the impact of effective graphic design. His simple shapes were quickly understood and recognized by viewers.
Impactful Imagery
Each beautifully bold poster features the iconic minimal realism of Charley Harper. With images of woodpeckers, deer, shorebirds, snakes, butterflies, rabbits, and more, each illustration is much like an “I Spy” in its depth of detailed subject matter. Harper considered his artistic license to display and translate the beauty of nature as he noted, “Herein lies the lure of painting: In a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.”
Though the busyness of these posters is an unusual approach for Harper’s minimal and simplified style, they are unmistakably clear in their relationship to the rest of his works. The bold colors and geometric shapes leave no question that Harper was the mastermind artist behind the composition and illustration. His ability to strip a three-dimensional reality down to a two-dimensional illustration, without losing identity, is masterful and profound.
These 10 images were commissioned by the U.S. National Park Service between late 1970 and early 1990. Each beautiful tribute to the National Park Service was designed to attract new visitors and spark the public interest. In each impressive image, Charley Harper’s love for wildlife and care for preservation shine through.
