Editing Clifford Harper

{{Short description|English illustrator (born 1949)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Clifford Harper
| image         = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    =  {{birth date and age|1949|07|13|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Chiswick]], West London, England, UK
| death_date    =  <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = 
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = Illustrator, anarchist
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = ''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide''
}}
'''Clifford Harper''' (born 13 July 1949 in [[Chiswick]], West London) is a worker, illustrator, and militant [[anarchist]]. He wrote ''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'' in 1987. He is a long-term contributor to ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper and many other publications.

== Personal life ==
Clifford Harper is a worker, illustrator and militant anarchist. He was born in Chiswick, West London &ndash; at that time within Middlesex &ndash; on 13 July 1949.  His father was a postman and his mother a cook. Expelled from school at 13 and placed on two years probation at 14, he then worked in a series of "menial jobs" before "turning on, tuning in, and dropping out" in 1967.<ref name="LH">{{cite web |title=Clifford Harper - Little Histories Illustrator |url=https://littlehistory.org/contributor/clifford-harper/ |website=Little Histories |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617210522/http://littlehistory.org/contributor/clifford-harper/ |archive-date=17 June 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After living in a [[Intentional community|commune]] in [[Cumberland]], he started a commune on [[Eel Pie Island]] in the River Thames near [[Richmond, Surrey]], in 1969.<ref name="Eelpie">{{cite news |last1=Abrahams |first1=Luke |title=Secret London: Why you should go and explore Eel Pie Island this weekend |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/attractions/secret-london-why-you-should-go-and-explore-eel-pie-island-this-weekend-a3689846.html |access-date=3 April 2020 |work=Evening Standard |date=17 November 2017 |language=en |archive-date=16 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116075328/https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/attractions/secret-london-why-you-should-go-and-explore-eel-pie-island-this-weekend-a3689846.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1971, he took part in the All London Squatters organization, [[squatting]] in [[London Borough of Camden|Camden]], [[North London]], then [[Stepney Green]], [[East (London sub region)|East London]], and [[Camberwell]] in [[South East (London sub region)|South East London]], while being very active in anarchist circles. In 1974, he settled in [[Camberwell]], where he has lived ever since. Harper has long-term health issues and suffered a heart attack in 2006.<ref name="Last">{{cite web |last1=LH |first1=Edd |title=Clifford Harper |url=http://www.lasthours.org.uk/archive/interviews/clifford-harper/ |website=Last Hours |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217164637/http://www.lasthours.org.uk/archive/interviews/clifford-harper/ |archive-date=17 February 2012}}</ref>

==Illustrator==
[[File:Harpergarden1.jpg|thumb|One of the series of Harper's 1970s 'Visions' posters, originally drawn for ''Undercurrents'' magazine.]]
From the early 1970s onwards, Harper became a prolific illustrator for many anarchist, radical, alternative and mainstream publications, organisations, groups and individuals.<ref name="Rural">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/apr/10/ruralaffairs.countrydiary |title=Clifford Harper: Graphic anarchy |work=[[guardian.co.uk]] |access-date=May 27, 2009 |date=April 10, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305153939/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/apr/10/ruralaffairs.countrydiary |archive-date=5 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> He self-published his own ''Class War Comix'' and illustrated for among others ''[[Undercurrents (magazine)|Undercurrents]]'' magazine and books on [[Stuart Christie]]'s Cienfuegos Press.<ref name="JISC">{{cite web |title=Illustrations by Clifford Harper - Archives Hub |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/f5e0a667-ea53-3e2f-bfa0-16c61f1cbfa0 |website=Jisc |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509000212/https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/f5e0a667-ea53-3e2f-bfa0-16c61f1cbfa0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Heavily influenced by [[George Grosz]], [[Félix Vallotton]], [[Fernand Léger]], [[Eric Gill]] and in particular the narrative [[woodcut]]s of [[Frans Masereel]], Harper's style evolved in the 1980s in a bolder, [[expressionist]] direction, with much of his later work resembling woodcut, although he mainly works in pen and ink, and watercolour.<ref name="Henning">{{cite web |title=Clifford Harper (1949 - ) |url=http://www.henningfineart.com/inventory-page-4/clifford-harper-1949- |website=Henning Fine Art |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009195214/http://www.henningfineart.com/inventory-page-4/clifford-harper-1949- |url-status=live }}</ref>

Harper has published work in all major UK newspapers.<ref name="LH" /> He is a regular and longterm contributor to ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper.<ref name="Rural" /> Since 1996, he has supplied illustrations for the ''[[Country Diary]]'' column and between 1999 and 2002, he illustrated the ''Last Word'' column written by philosopher [[AC Grayling]].<ref name="GNM">{{cite news |author=Guardian Staff |title=Clifford Harper |url=https://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/clifford-harper |access-date=3 April 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=18 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925135111/http://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/clifford-harper |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'', which Harper wrote and illustrated, was published by Camden Press in 1987. It begins: "Like all really good ideas, Anarchy is pretty simple when you get down to it - Human beings are at their very best when they are living free of authority, deciding things among themselves rather than being ordered about. That's what 'Anarchy' means - 'Without Government'.<ref name="GG">{{cite book |last1=Harper |first1=Clifford |title=Anarchy: A graphic guide |date=1987 |publisher=Agraphia |location=London |page=vii |edition=1 |url=https://libcom.org/library/anarchy-graphic-guide-clifford-harper |access-date=3 April 2020 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208004331/http://libcom.org/library/anarchy-graphic-guide-clifford-harper |archive-date=8 December 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Harper had a strong association with [[Freedom Press]] from 1969 up to 2005 as well as many other anarchist groups, publications and individuals. Harper remains an engaged anarchist activist, having been involved with organising the UK's annual [[Anarchist Bookfair]], re-designing Freedom newspaper in 2005, producing books, pamphlets, posters, book covers, postcards and drawings for, and supporting, anarchists everywhere. His drawings have been used and reproduced by anarchists and others in nearly every country of the world.<ref name="Last" />

''Stamps: Designs for anarchist postage stamps'' was published by Rebel Press in 1997, with an essay by [[Colin Ward]]. It contained 16 portraits of figures such as [[Alexander Berkman]], [[Emma Goldman]], [[Louise Michel]] and  [[Herbert Read]]. Harper also wrote an afterword.<ref name="Stamps">{{cite book |last1=Harper |first1=Clifford |title=Stamps: Designs for anarchist postage stamps |date=1997 |publisher=Rebel Press |location=London |isbn=0946061149}}</ref>

''Graphic Anarchy'', an exhibition of his work, was held in 2003 at the Newsroom Gallery, London.<ref name="Rural" />

In March 2020, a plaque made by Harper was unveiled in [[Plymouth]], making tribute to the [[Tolpuddle Martyrs]]. In 1837, some of the martyrs returned to Dorset from Australia after being pardoned.<ref name="Plymouth">{{cite news |last1=Waddington |first1=Sarah |title=New plaque to mark the arrival of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in Plymouth |url=https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/new-plaque-mark-arrival-tolpuddle-3943901 |access-date=3 April 2020 |work=Plymouth Herald |date=12 March 2020 |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809152806/https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/new-plaque-mark-arrival-tolpuddle-3943901 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Bibliography ==
*''Class War Comix - New Times'' (Epic, 1974 & Last Gasp, 1979)
*''Radical Technology'' - includes six "Visions" and other drawings by Clifford Harper (edited by Peter Harper, [[Godfrey Boyle]] and the editors of ''[[Undercurrents (magazine)|Undercurrents]]'', [[Wildwood House (publisher)|Wildwood House]], 1976)
*''The Education of Desire - The Anarchist Graphics of Clifford Harper'' (Annares Press, 1984)
*''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'' (Camden Press, 1987)
*''The Unknown Deserter - the Brief War of Private Aby Harris in Nine Drawings'' - A6 chapbook (Working Press, 1989)
*''An Alphabet'' - A6 chapbook (Working Press, 1989)
*''Anarchists: Thirty Six Picture Cards'' ([[Freedom Press]],1994)
*''Prologemena to a Study of the Return of the Repressed in History'' (Rebel Press, 1994)
*''Visions of Poesy - an Anthology of Anarchist Poetry'' (co-edited with Dennis Gould and Jeff Cloves, Freedom Press, 1994)
*''Stamps: Anarchist Postage Stamps for after the Revolution'' (Rebel Press, 1997)
*''Philosopher Footballers: Sporting Heroes of Intellectual Distinction'' (Philosophy Football, 1997)
*''The Guardian Country Diary Drawings'' (Agraphia Press, 2003)
*''The Ballad of Robin Hood and the Deer'' (Agraphia Press, 2003)
*''The Ballad of Santo Caserio'' (Agraphia Press, 2003)
*''The City of Dreadful Night'' (Agraphia Press, 2003)

==See also==
*[[Anarchism in the arts]]
*[[Libertarian socialism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101226010805/http://www.agraphia.co.uk/home.html Agraphia] Official website
* ''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'' on [https://www.facebook.com/AnarchyAGraphicGuide Facebook]

{{Freedom Press}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Clifford}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Chiswick]]
[[Category:English anarchists]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:20th-century squatters]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English artists]]
[[Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English writers]]