Born in Germany in
August 1956, Manfred Rapp began drawing at the age of four. At the early age of sixteen he started an
apprenticeship as a graphic artist at a West German advertising firm. After completing his apprenticeship, he began
a career as a graphic designer and illustrator. He illustrated books as well as a televised
children’s program and designed posters for performances by artists Diana Ross,
Barry Manilow and Phil Collins.
Rapp made many trips to Paris, Florence, Amsterdam, and elsewhere in Europe frequenting great art
museums and studying master artists’ work, thus inspiring a passion for the art
of oil painting which eventually led him to enrolling in the Art Academy of
Konstanz in West Germany. From 1980 to 1986 he studied under the
supervision of the renowned Czechoslovakian art professor, Karel Hodr. Rapp has the distinguished honor of being one
of only three students to receive a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from the
academy.
Inspired by the great French
Impressionists and many years of study, Rapp’s singular style emerged. His unique style combines Impressionism with
the glazing techniques of the Old Masters as well as experimentation with oils
and acrylics, to render a dramatic effect in a soft continuance of color. The interrelationship between figures and the
world around them is a constant inspiration for his still life, landscapes and
street scenes.
In June 2003, Manfred Rapp
was selected as one of sixteen artists from around the world to participate in
a prestigious Artist in Residency program hosted by the Hungarian
Multicultural Center
in Balantonfured, Hungary. After completing the three week residency,
two separate exhibitions of Rapp’s work were held at nationally sponsored
events in Hungary. In 2004 another exhibition of his work was
held at the Vizivarosi Gallery in Budapest,
Hungary to
commemorate the close of the 2003 Artists in Residency Program.
Rapp has resided in the U.S. since 1986 and has made New Mexico his home
for the past 15 years. He continues to
travel throughout the world to draw inspiration for paintings, visiting such
diverse locales as Italy, France, Germany,
Spain, North
Africa, Mexico,
and Cuba
on a regular basis. Rapp maintained a
lifelong mentoring relationship with Professor Hodr from 1986 until the professor’s
death in 2002. His paintings are
collected extensively by private and corporate collectors worldwide.
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