Enjoy this beautiful day

We’ve started cleaning up and unearthed a box of these old Ford Times on one of the sagging shelves above our desks. They’re compact (5×7) magazines produced by the Ford Company used for promotion by dealers to their customers. All of ours are from the 1960’s and printed in color with many illustrations by Cincinnati’s own Charley Harper.

While digging around online, there’s a fantastic and in-depth article that digs into the history of his work at Ford Times. This particular bit caught my eye, but the entire article on Charley Harper Prints is a trove:

By 1951-2, Charley was an increasingly regular contributor to Ford Times. With his first cover we also see his first forays into illustrations of nature, to become the hallmark of his later career. However, it was not yet a specialty, or focus.

– A Charley Harper Ford Times Retrospective by Terry Wright [ link ]

Everyone at the studio is enamored with Charlie’s work and we turn to it for inspiration, often. Below? A few more scans from our collection that weren’t found in this super awesome Flickr pool.

For more on Charley, visit the studio site maintained by his family:
The Charley Harper Art Studio.