Ray Harm

Who is Ray Harm?

Ray Harm is an American artist, best known for his paintings of wildlife, primarily birds. He is also well known for art marketing and is generally credited as the co-creator of the limited edition art print market, which supplanted the traditional method where artists sold original works on an individual basis. Limited edition art prints are now the standard method of marketing paintings and similar works to the general public.

Harm was born Ray Auvil in Randolph County, West Virginia; his father was a concert violinist who also was a woodsman and herbalist. His name was changed to Harm after his parents divorced and his mother remarried to William Harm. He left the West Virginia in his mid teens to become a cowboy in the American West, eventually competing on the rodeo circuit and also training horses for the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

His service in the United States Navy during World War II allowed him to take advantage of the GI Bill for continuing education. Harm used the opportunity to enroll in art school and afterwards became a painter. While selling individual paintings, Harm worked in construction and horse training to make ends meet.