Hare's Breadth

Charley Harper · 1978 · Serigraph ¬∑ Pencil-signed and numbered limited edition

"Hare's Breadth" is a 1978 pencil-signed and numbered serigraph, one of an edition of 2,500, that shows off Harper's gift for tension and whimsy. A cottontail rabbit has already outrun a fox through the meadow, and now races the shadow of a red-tailed hawk to the nearest groundhog hole, winning, as the title puns, by a hair. Harper compresses the whole chase into flat geometric shapes and slashing diagonal lines that suggest wind-bent grass, rendered in a restrained palette of warm golds, grays, and black linework on cream stock. The rabbit's stillness against the surrounding motion turns a near miss into a quietly dramatic story of survival.

When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don't see feathers, fur, scapulars or tail coverts, none of that. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures.Charley Harper

View this poster in The 29 Collection