The Feeder Group

The copy in the auction record is signed in the plate and by hand, with a note by the artist on the back.¹

He also made a series of seasonal feeder prints, and no source read ties The Feeder Group to it. The official site lists Fall Feeder (1987, 28 × 16 inches). An auction record describes Winter Feeder (1984) as numbered 1829 of 2000. The Filson Historical Society released Spring Feeder in November 2004 as the last of the series.^2,3,4

Ray Harm prints in general

Harm explained his two signatures himself. He lettered his name on each painting, so that printed name appears on every copy. A second name, in pencil and in script, below or near the printed one, means he signed that copy by hand.⁵

Not every print was signed or numbered. He wrote that for the first two or three years, from 1962, individual prints were neither signed nor numbered, and that later prints were signed and individually numbered. Some editions made to raise funds were partly numbered and signed, with the rest signed only.⁵

Editions were large. His official site gives 5,000 for Red-winged Blackbird (1967) and Rufous-sided Towhee (1969), and 7,500 for Yellow-breasted Chat (1973). Louisville Magazine quotes a bookseller’s view that Harm overprinted and so lowered the value of his art.^6,7,8,9

All identification notes for Ray Harm prints