Neil Harpe Art for Sale and Sold Prices

b. 1946 -

Neil Harpe is a painter and printmaker. He approaches his work through a variety of media including acrylics, watercolor, Mylar lithography and intaglio printmaking (etching) – often combining several of these media in a single work. Harpe is particularly well known for his marine art: workboats, lighthouses and watermen.

In 1995, Harpe introduced his lifetime’s passion of the blues and of guitars into his art. He painted a series of portraits of famous blues musicians: Blind Boy Fuller, Lonnie Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Blind Lemon Jefferson and more.

Harpe's passion for the blues began at a young age. He learned to play the guitar when he was 12 and inspired by Elvis began as a rock & roller. By the time Neil was in high school, he had discovered the blues! At the age of 17 he perused the Goodwill store every week looking through piles of old 78's, hoping to uncover an old blues record from the 1920's or 30's. While his peers were listening to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, Neil was listening to the blues musicians: Blind Boy Fuller, Lonnie Johnson, Memphis Minnie and Mississippi John Hurt.

Harpe has amassed a sizeable collection of “Stella” guitars and has written a book about them. Made between 1900 and 1939, they were the guitars of choice for such blues performers as Charley Patton, Willie Brown and Lead Belly. He has a website devoted to buying, selling and purveying information about these instruments and in 2005 he published “the Stella Guitars Book.”

Parallel to his visual art career, the multi-talented artist has been an active performer all his adult life and is an accomplished guitarist, performing at many venues. Neil has performed for the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival, Herndon Blues Festival, Smithsonian Associates, Hirshhorn Museum (in conjunction with Black History Month), Washington Folk Festival, Takoma Park Folk Festival, Northern Virginia Folk Festival, Quiet Waters Park and the D.C. Blues Festival. He recorded an LP entitled "Neil Harpe", for Adelphi Records in 1972. Harpe recently released a solo CD of all new material. Along with longtime musical partners Rick Franklin and Rick Usilton, he has also released two albums of blues and "hokum" ragtime duets.

Education

4-Year Diploma - Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969 (graphics), awarded 1st prize in graphics - 1969 Corcoran School of Art Concours.

BFA Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, 1973 (multi-media)

MFA George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 1977 (printmaking)