Sketchbook in hand, Charley Harper tromped the great outdoors in every season. His was a clear-eyed appreciation of all the world’s flora and fauna but especially of birds. “I tried to start off like a good artist-naturalist would, by doing my field work, but by the time I had aimed and focused the binoculars, the bird was long gone. I could never get close enough to count the feathers in the wings, so I just counted the wings.” This fresh approach to design, using geometric shapes and vivid colours to simplify nature’s complexities, evolved into the Minimal Realism style that rendered Harper an icon of Midcentury Modern wildlife art.