Manfred Rapp was born in Germany in 1956 and began drawing at the age of four. By the time he was sixteen, he was already serving an apprenticeship as a graphic artist at a West German firm. After completing his apprenticeship, he began his career as a graphic designer and illustrator. He illustrated books and televised children's stories, along with designing posters for various performing artists such as Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, and Phil Collins.
During this time, Manfred made many study trips to Paris, Florence, and Amsterdam where he visited the famous art museums and began a study of the Great Masters. The many museum visits sparked his passion for oil painting. He subsequently returned to Germany and at age twenty-four enrolled in the Art Academy of Konstanz, studying from 1980 to 1986 under the close guidance of renowned Czechoslovakian artist, Professor Karel Hodr. Manfred has the distinguished honor of being one of the only three students in his class to receive a Masters Degree in Fine Art from the Academy.
Greatly inspired by the French Impressionists, and after many years of study, combined with his own artistic visions, Manfred developed his own unique style of combining Impressionism with glazing techniques of the Old Masters. Representational rural, urban and landscape scenes are painted using a technique of multiple applications of transparent oil glazes then a direct pastose application of oils. The interrelationships between figures and their surroundings are a constant inspiration.
Museum exhibitions of Manfred's work have been held at International Museum of Contemporary Masters, Salon International 2006, San Antonio, Texas. The Art-East Museum, Balatonfured in 2004. The Ernst Museum, Budapest, in 2003. Other exhibitions include numerous private gallery shows held in Germany, Italy, and throughout the United States.
|
